Two Halves of the Same Heart
by Astro.PNG
Summary: Emily records an interview with Astro for a project where he tells the story of how his relationship with Tenma developed since his return to Metro City. (RATED T FOR SWEARING) [EIGHTH INSTALLMENT IN THE VIVID INSOMNIA ASTRO BOY FAN FIC SERIES]
1. The Beginning

Two Halves of the Same Heart

Written By: Emily The Artist and Kaitlyn Draws Manga

_**Chapter one: The Beginning **_

_**Introduction:**_

_**The story takes place in a unknown location, Emily has been asked by one of her teachers to record an interview of someone she knows, Emily gets together with Kaitlyn and decides to interview Astro, during the interview Astro brings up a time when he forgave his father, Emily asks if she could record him telling that story. Astro agrees and begins with an introduction Kaitlyn records.**_

_ Sometimes people don't see it._

_You put on a smile, and they think everything is okay, they think i'm okay._

_I'm not okay, I'm crazy, I waste my days chugging down root beer watching anime._

_I had it all, I had more than most people I know had._

_But that's one thing people don't understand about me._

_They don't understand my struggle._

_People take breathing for granted until they're drowning._

_They're drowning._

_But they never notice people like me._

_Who everyday, no matter what…_

_Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week._

_Are drowning. _

_Are gasping for air in the midst of it all._

_Just trying to be someone._

_I am no one,_

_I am myself and myself only. _

_Theres a reason behind it._

_A reason i'm mad._

_A reason I never cared._

_A reason, I can't fix myself straight and get my ass up in the morning._

_A reason I cry in the middle of the night._

_A reason I can never be changed._

_Never be touched._

_Never be noticed._

_Noticed?_

_Why would I wanna be noticed?_

_I don't deserve to be noticed-_

_Noticed. _

_Noticed…_

_**Noticed**__._

_Kind of a weird thing, isn't it._

_It's like that's all people want…_

_Is to get,_

_**Noticed**__. _

_I love the people I love,_

_I'd do anything for them… _

_Feed them, dress them, take them places._

_But forgiving was never one of them… _

_I remember…_

_Being little… _

_And taking my family, my friends, my life._

_For granted. _

_Threw it away like paper in a trash can._

_But now that i'm a little older._

_A little wiser._

_A little more careful _

_I realize… _

_I should've never taken them for granted. _

_There's not a day that goes by where I don't forget what i've done._

_I've never forgotten._

_And as the days go by.._

_I remember more… _

_I remember being little, _

_I remember what it was like to be called Tobio. _

_To take my walks in the forest and prick myself with the metal fence by accident. _

_To see my father all happy._

_To put up a smile no matter what I did to him or what trouble I caused him. _

_But I wish I could take it all back. _

_I wish I could've been there.._

_I wish I could be in a family again,_

_I Wish I could turn back the clock!_

_But I never will be able to, _

_No matter what i do,_

_No matter what i try_

_I'm just a stupid idiot_

_Trying? _

_Trying isn't gonna do anything_

_I've tried my whole life but i guess it just wasn't worth it_

_I'm just not worth it!_

_I JUST CAN'T STOP CRYING!_

_I…. I can't stop trying… _

_And trying.._

_And trying.._

_Until I give out._

_And i'm dead. _

After moving back in with the professor in Metro City, things between me and him have been _very_ rocky… always arguing about the same crap, always telling me to do this and do that.

But I suck it up and move along.

Proper thing to do, right?

So now-a-day's I like to go downtown and stroll the sidewalks, and maybe get an icecream or two.

But today I decided i'd go over to the pizza place, it's been a while since i've been there…

I walked in and saw most of the tables were empty, people were walking in empty-handed and came out with boxes of pizza and 2-liter sodas.

But to my surprise I saw someone sitting alone in the corner table, it looked like he was reading something.

Well I had nothing else better to do..

I walked up closer to the table and sat down in front of them.

I realized who it was.

"D- dad?" I stuttered.

They ignored me.

Was this really my father?

"Dad? Tenma?"

They ignored me again.

I sighed.

I ruffled up their hair and left the pizza place.

I wasn't in the mood for pizza anymore.

"Astro?" Tenma looked up.

After seeing no one was there, he resumed reading.

I strolled casually across the sidewalk, looking at shops and all sorts of people.

I looked at the lights and how bright they were on such a night like this…

I turned around and shuttered after a feel of someone touching me.

I turned back around.

"Brianna?" I looked at her.

"Hey Astro! Whatcha' doing here?" She asked me.

"Just strolling, the usual… " I shrugged.

"Oh, well I better get going for dinner, see you later pookie face!" Brianna skidded away and shuffled through the big crowd of people. I heard her say things like "Excuse me?" "Sorry… I'm going on my way home for dinner" "Sorry sir!" "Pardon me."

I chuckled as I saw her walk away.

My smile faded as I put my hands in my pockets and walked at an even slower pace.

_**You better get going**_

I sighed after staring at my phone for a few minutes reading the same text message from the old fart himself.

_I know, i'm on my way there._

_**Good. That's what i'd like to hear.**_

_You could give less of a damn about what what you hear than the most of us._

_**Astro i'm not in the mood.**_

_And neither am I… _

I walked into a giant building, there was a lady at the front desk.

"Astro here to see-"

"Gil?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Here." The lady handed me a pass.

I came out of the elevator and walked into the hallway.

I stopped at a door, knocking on it gently I began to think about what I was gonna say to him.

The man opened the door.

He was a tall man (but maybe average height for his age) He was completely bald and clean shaven and he always wore white in a professional manner, along with a pair of rectangular glasses.

"Come in Astro, have a seat." The man said to me as he pushed up his glasses.

I sat down on a couch, the man (whose name was actually "Gil" ) sat in a chair not too far from me.

Gil grabbed his clipboard and clicked his pen.

"Shall we begin?" He glanced at me.

"I guess… " I shrugged.

"So how are you feeling today?" Gil began to question me.

"I dunno… "

"Hmm… okay, what did you do today?"

"I woke up, survived and came here…."

"Can you be a little more descriptive on that?"

"Okay… I woke up, I got into an argument, I haven't eaten in three days and I just came back from the pizza place downtown…"

"Ahh I see, meet anyone on the way…"

"I met Brianna…"

"Brianna? Oh yes, Brianna… you've told me about her…" I saw Gil write a few things on his clipboard with that pen of his.

After an hour passed of a meaningless conversation, I headed on my way out and back to the streets of downtown. It was even darker now as I made my way to Tenma's house.

I always liked to visit him after going to the tortured place the professor sends me off to (he calls it "therapy". after he called it that, I removed it from my brain and now i've forgotten what it means).

But anyways, i'm almost getting on my way there and I see _Mrs. _Dr. Tenma arranging a few things out in the front of his house.

"Hey… uh… C- Cindy? Cindy? Am I right? Gosh after you got married I forgot what else to call you…" I said to her in an awkward fashion.

"Cindy is fine." She smiled at me as she stood up, dusting her hands off.

"Oh, okay… _Cindy_.. is Tenma there?"

"Yes. Bill is inside."

"Aren't you gonna be coming inside too?" I opened the door.

"Yes. In a few minutes."

I forced a small smile and walked inside.

"Nice to see you ignore me at the pizza place, isn't it?" I sounded a little sarcastic while speaking to Tenma.

"Oh. Sorry about that. I was really into that book." Tenma turned around.

"Ahhh… I see… I still don't understand what's so great about books, I prefer manga if you ask me… " I slowly walked over to the dining room table and sat down in a chair.

"Hmm. Well they both serve the same purpose."

"Well Books are stupid… and you know who else is stupid…" I folded my arms.

"Who?"

"If I say his name I will lose my mind completely..."

"Ah. I think I know who you're talking about."

"Don't get me started on the arguments, the 'do this' 'so that' crap… I swear he's worse than a nagging mother!"

"And you know what else that little d-bag did to me?" I added.

"What?" Tenma sat in the chair across the table from me.

"He sent me off to 'therapy' now i'm there 2 days a week… it sucks the life out of me…" I leaned my head closer to the table out of frustration.

"Therapy doesn't help at all. I went once. It did absolutely nothing for me. If anything it made me worse,"

"Tell that to Mr. Big Nose himself! He won't even take me anymore, now I have to walk because he says i've 'pushed his limit' "

"Whatever came upon that man? He never used to be like this." He slowly shook his head,

"I know, but _he's_ not like this to Atom, oh no.. because Atom is his little angel who does what he tells him to do… and he cleans, and he doesn't talk back, and he's _so_ respectful!" 

"He's just so perfect, but when it comes to me, it's a whole different ballpark, he's like a totally different person! He goes from good to bad in less than 3.5 seconds!" My voice sounded really annoyed.

"He says i'm irresponsible and I have poor manners…" I sighed.

"You deserve better."

"Why… why doesn't anyone like me… why… why do people always pick on, try to change me… they just don't understand…" I put my head down.

Tenma got up and kneeled next to me.

"I like you." He said softly as he smiled.

I looked up and around, trying to figure out where he moved to.

"Oh!" I smiled back at him when I finally figured out where he was.

"But that's still not gonna change anything…"

"Well. It's always important to know _somebody_ understands." He put his hand on my shoulder.

"Okay, i'll try and remember that…"

"But… I just don't know what to do…" I closed my eyes and sniffed. 

"Hey now, It's ok."

"E-easy f-for you t-to say…" I sniffed again.

"I know what you're going through."

My chest hurt a little for a moment.

I tried holding back my tears.

I took in one more sniff and cringed my eyes.

I felt Tenma's hand gently rub my back.

I sighed as tears streamed down my face.

It was just unfair.

_It was always unfair._

_No one ever notices how unfair things can get._

_But I live unfair everyday._

_Sometimes I enjoy it._

_And sometimes I wish It would rot in hell._

I tried my best to wipe some of the tears off my face, but they were just replaced with new ones striking down and hitting the floor.

After a moment of thinking in total silence, I began to smile. ((Aww shall we document this moment in which the robot has smiled? ~Emily)) ((yesh ouo ~kate))

I felt a little tired though, still sitting on the same chair I was before.

I let a yawn escape out.

I slowly closed my eyes and snored.

Tenma titled his head.

"He fell asleep…"

I stopped snoring as I seemed to be slowing down.

Tenma put his arms around me and lifted me up off the chair.

Cindy came back inside as he walked over to the couch. 

"Aw. He fell asleep?" She quietly walked up to Tenma as he gently laid me on the couch. 

"Yeah. The poor kid. He's got way too much weight on his shoulders." Tenma looked down at me.

Cindy walked up next to him and he put his arm around her.

"He looks so sweet when he's sleeping." She moved closer to Tenma.

"Hmm. Almost like a baby." He chuckled.

Cindy blushed, wrapping her arms around Tenma.

"So when are we going to tell him?"

"Eventually. It may be too soon to tell him the news." He leaned over and kissed her forehead. 

((IT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU THINK ~kate)) ((Kait is the reason I ship Astrianna more and I torture her with the Kaitas and the Astriannait ships.. ~Emily)) ((Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Astriannait is a lie. the cake is a lie. everything is a lie. yup ouo ~kate)) ((Yeah, she doesn't ship it, i don't ship it, but… thats what she gets for doing dis to Tencla.. ~Emily)) ((TENCLA DESERVES THIS. THEY ARE IN LOVE. TRUE LOOOOVVVVVEEEEE ~kate)) ((man i need like a chil pill or something ~kate))

A few hours had passed, I was tossing and turning as my mind went on, thinking the same usual thing. I shouldn't really be sleeping though.

It's the nightmares that get to me.

I tossed and turned so much I fell off the couch, but I never woke up. 

My mind was still racing.

I tried grabbing onto the floor, thinking there was something I could grab on.

Small streams of tears fell to the ground as i quietly let out a scream.

The nightmare was consuming me.

I gasped and saw myself on the floor with my fingers dug right into the tile.

My head hurt, my back hurt, my heart hurt, my everything hurt!

I just stayed there and let the memories pass and leave, hoping they wouldn't come back in another dark dream.

Everything was dizzy and blurry for a moment, I saw a blob of something walk up to me.

"Astro?! Are you ok?" I heard a familiar voice say to me.

"N-no, just make it stop- please!" I begged. ((Poor Astro.. *Tears up* ~Emily))

They picked me up and put me back up on the couch.

I curled up into a ball and sniffed.

"Just calm down, sweetie." The voice said gently to me, rubbing tears off my cheeks.

I tried to relax and put myself at a state of ease, doing my best to forget the nightmare.

"I-i'm sorry, I-it's just getting worse, I-i can't control it…" I stuttered.

"It's not your fault."

"Well of course it is! there's no one else to blame…"

"Please don't say that. You know it's not because of you. You're just putting all the blame on yourself."

"Because there's no one else…there's nothing else to blame"

I finally opened my eyes.

"I better get going, I've already pissed the old fart off today…" I got up from the couch and started heading for the door.

"Oh. Ok." Cindy looked at me. Almost confused as to why I was leaving so soon.

"Tell Tenma I left and I said goodbye…" I said, waving.

She slowly waved back.

I opened the door and walked out of the house.

"He's gonna kill me…" I thought.

"Your home late." The professor began as soon as I walked inside the house.

"I know, I just went to-"

"Your home late."

"I know professor, I went-"

"Your home late."

I sighed and walked up the stairs to my room.

Closing the door behind me, I looked for my phone in my pocket.

It wasn't there.

"Aw crap, don't tell me I left it on that table… " I turned around.

Sighing, I walked out the door again and back downstairs.

"Where are you going?" The professor asked.

"I left my phone… " I muttered.

"Be back in a hour… "

I nodded and headed back out the door again.

I knocked on Tenma's door again after reaching his house.

Someone opened it.

"Back so soon?"

"Oh no, I just left my phone… " I replied, scratching my arm.

"Oh. Well, come on in."

I casually walked inside, still scratching my arm.

I pin pointed my phone that was on the table, slowly walking up to the table, I grabbed it and put it back in my pocket.

The next day, as usual, I was the first to get up.

I woke up to seeing the piano in it's usual place, hidden in the corner of my room. Uran always came in to use it but I occasionally sat down and let my fingers place around with the keys.

I never really was much of a musician, but Becky inspired me to try out a few instruments, even though I already have mastered the flute and I like busting out a few song covers on the electric guitar, and also seeing how Uran really shows her talent when she sits in that chair and just looks at the sheet music, like typing without looking at the keyboard.

Somethings just, happen to inspire me.

I got out of my bed, rubbing my eye and walked over to the piano.

I sat myself down in the chair.

letting out a quick sigh, I stretched my arms. 

I looked down at the piano keys.

Thinking for a moment, I put my fingers over the keys.

It started out with a few random notes, until I unconsciously ended up playing a song I had no idea about.

"Astro?" I heard someone call me.

I stopped playing.

"Yeah?" I called back.

"Nothing, just wanted to see who it was…"

"Oh." I got up from the chair.

"You were really good Astro, have you considered taking classes?"

"Not really, i'm not much of a musician you know..."

I looked down at my little sister, Uran who was walking with me downstairs after I left my room.

"Morning Astro!" My twin greeted me with a smile.

"Uhh… morning?" I greeted back in a nervous tone.

"Sleep well?" the professor asked, he was sitting at the end of the dining room table.

"You know I don't sleep." I quickly replied.

Elefun sighed.

"Uran?" He looked at Uran.

"Yep!" Uran smiled.

The professor smiled back.

"I'd rather skip breakfast today, i'm thinking of going downtown and-"

"You and your downtown trips…"

"Well what else am I suppose to do?! Being stuck in this d-bag of a place isn't gonna help me or help anyone!"

"Well then… you're excused."

"Excused, my ass.." I muttered as I walked away.

I was going back downtown again since I didn't think it was fair that my time got wasted just to visit a bald dude that sucks out my soul and eats up my pigments (since most of the time i leave with such a pale face).

This time when I walked inside the pizza place it was completely empty, and I didn't see Tenma in the corner reading.

I walked up to the cashier.

"You know, it's kinda early to be ordering pizza…" They said to me.

"I know, I didn't say I was ordering…"

"Well yeah but you walked-"

"Ah buh buh! Shh!" I put my hand in front of their face.

The cashier sighed.

"What do you want…" They looked annoyed at me.

"Mmm.. nothing…" I shrugged.

I waved goodbye and left out of the pizza place. 

Putting my hands in my pockets, I continued to stroll the sidewalk and pass by the park.

"Hmm…"

Maybe a walk in the park can de-clutter my thoughts.

Even though that's a workout in itself…

I crossed the street and walked into the park which was already becoming crowded like it already was with people and children and those babies who still can't seem to walk or master how not to have a tantrum.

The sun got in my eyes and I reacted quickly by turning around heading another direction.

Wait a second?

Is that?

I got a little closer to see who it was.

I saw two people strolling by holding hands, they seemed familiar.

I hid in a bush hoping they wouldn't notice me when they passed by.

Wouldn't want to get caught of like, I dunno.. spying?

I think i'm too sneaky for today's society.

I peeked my head out of the bushes and looked around.

I finally saw who it was.

It was Tenma and Cindy, casually holding hands and walking the sidewalk.

Should I go greet them?

"Woah!" I stumbled forward and fell on the sidewalk.

"Astro?" They both looked pretty surprised to see me pop out of the bushes.

"Hehe… hello" I looked up at them and laughed with a nervous smile as I waved.

"Hello." Cindy grinned.

I got up and brushed off my shirt and jeans.

"Ah!" I felt something drip from my forehead. ((Cuz the sidewalk scraped your forehead dummy! ~Emily))

"Oh! You're bleeding." Cindy let go of Tenma's hand and leaned down, examining my forehead.

"I- I am?" 

"Yeah. But it's not that bad."

"Oh… good." I said with relief.

She took a tissue out of her pocket and gently dabbed my wound.

"Is it gone?" I asked.

"Well, the bleeding stopped, but you still have a little scrape."

"Eh… not much of a big deal." I shrugged.

"Oh! Hi dad!" I looked over Cindy's shoulder and waved to him.

"Hello." He smiled and nodded his head.

" 'Hello' just, 'Hello' oh okay.. I see how it is…" I joked.

"Would you rather I walk up to you and give you a rib-crushing hug?" He joked back.

"Hmmm.. i'm not sure, is it painful?"

"Oh. Yes. Very much." Cindy chuckled.

I sighed.

"Oh well… you only live once" I threw my arms out towards him.

He laughed as he walked up to me.

"Ahh!" I laughed even though it did kinda did hurt.

I soon broke off the hug and scratched my arm since it's always itchy for some reason.

"So where you guys going?" I asked.

"Oh. We were going to walk around for a little while then go food shopping since we're running out of some things." Cindy looked up at Tenma as she took his hand again.

"Oh… looks like your days planned, too bad I have nothing to do today…"

"You can come with us if you'd like" She looked at me and smiled.

"I could, but i'd only slow you down…"

"You won't."

"Really?" For a moment I thought I was transforming into my twin when I spoke.

"Yeah." She chuckled.

"Well I guess I could go, I'm sure the professor won't mind…" I shrugged.

They continued walking as I strolled along besides them.

At one point, Cindy reached over and held my hand.

I looked up at her confused, but soon ignored it and kept walking on.

"So… what kind of instruments do you play?"

"Well…I'm not really much of a musician, but I have dabbled in the piano, mastered the flute and do song covers on the electric guitar." I replied.

"Piano? Your father here likes the piano too." Cindy looked up at Tenma.

He blushed.

"Oh, I haven't played in _ages_." He chuckled.

"Really? Then it's my sister you wanna talk to, she's a piano fanatic… she plays it even better than me, but I obviously don't admit it when she asks me…" I added with a chuckle.

"I'd like to hear you play, though." Cindy grinned at me.

"Oh…. i'm not that great, and I barely know any songs…" I shrugged ((OMG ASTRO JUST STOP PUTTING YOURSELF DOWN U ISH FAB OK FAB?! ~Emily)) ((SUPAH FAB ~kate))

"I'm sure you're good."

I blushed.

I wasn't used to hearing so many compliments in one day…

"Well then… you're welcome to see me play any day… " I said, looking at her.

"Sounds good."

I chuckled again.

"You too." I looked at Tenma.

He smiled.

We continued walking the park for a while.

Tenma looked at the watch on his wrist.

"You wanna get going now?" He asked Cindy.

"Sure."

We all left out of the park and walked into the parking lot.

"So where did you guys park?"

"Over here." Tenma walked towards some cars.

"Oh, I thought you guys would park farther…"

There were two ladies walking past us and towards the park.

"Aw. What a cute family." I heard one of them say behind me.

I blushed and slowed down a little.

"Come along, Astro." Tenma looked at me as he unlocked the doors to his car.

I quickly made my way over to him and Cindy and we all got in the car.

I clicked my seatbelt and got comfortable.

Soon we arrived at the supermarket.

Tenma and Cindy walked in casually, I tried catching up with them while pushing the cart.

"So what are we getting anyways?" I asked.

"Hm. Do you still have the list, dear?" Tenma looked at me then at Cindy.

"Oh. Yeah." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper.

She unfolded it and started reading off some of the things on it.

"That's a long list…" I said after Cindy went through the whole list.

"Well, we haven't been shopping in a while." She chuckled.

"Oh… well thats makes more sense…"

We walked down the first aisle as Cindy took a few things off the shelves and put them into the cart.

Before we knew it we were waiting in line to pay for all the stuff we got, I kept scratching my arm while we waiting for the next person in line to go pay.

"You okay, you seem to be itching that arm a lot?" Cindy asked.

"Oh it's nothing, it just itches a lot sometimes…" I replied.

We were up next in line.

I pushed the cart further so we could pay.

I noticed Tenma looking at at my arm as I continued to scratch it.

I helped put the stuff from the cart onto the conveyor belt, scratching my arm in-between moving stuff.

"Gosh, my arms never been _this_ itchy.." I thought.

After putting the last item onto the conveyor belt, the itched area became a little red, I ignored it and casually helped put the bags into the cart. ((Aww Astro's so nice… ~Emily))

I helped push the cart outside where we parked and put all of the stuff in the trunk.

I could still felt the itch in my arm as I closed the trunk and went to put the cart back.

Coming back to the car I noticed Tenma was still looking at my arm again.

He walked up to me and held my arm up as he examined it closely.

"We're going to have to do something about this when we get back to the house." He said with a hint of worry in his voice.

"But don't I have to go back to the professor's?" I asked.

"I'm sure he won't mind if you stay for a little." Cindy walked up to us,

"If only it were _that_ easy…." I replied back with sarcasm.

She looked at me with a slightly sympathetic expression.

"It sounds like you need a little break from him."

"Thats why I left in the first place, but then I decided to give him and my life a second chance, but it hasn't really turned out like I wanted it to turn out."

"It takes time to mend some relationships." She patted me on the head.

"Well then I guess it might be a while…" I shrugged.

We all got in the car and drove off home, I kept checking my phone every few seconds to check the time, as if checking it once wasn't enough.

"I'll carry the bags inside for you." I said as I unclicked the seatbelt once we got home.

"Oh. You don't have to. You already helped out so much today." Cindy looked back at me.

"You sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

"Mmm.. okay, but if you need help, just ask." I opened the door and got out of the car.

I walked inside as Tenma and Cindy made their way to the back of the car.

"You shouldn't be taking such heavy bags, dear." Tenma said to Cindy as she grabbed a few large bags.

"Oh, I'm fine."

"You really should be resting."

"It's ok sweetie. I'll be fine. What's a few heavy bags going to do, hmm?"

Tenma sighed.

"Oh. Alright." 

I sat down at the table and put my head down, I wasn't really tired, but my head was cluttered with thoughts and I was getting bored.

My head began to hurt and my arm itched again.

Tenma and Cindy placed bags on the table and Cindy began to put some things away behind me as Tenma walked back outside to get more bags.

I moaned and tried to get comfortable and stop my head from hurting. 

Tenma walked back inside with the last few bags left and put them on the table.

I closed my eyes but tried not to fall asleep.

Because the nightmares became more prominent now and it was hard to avoid them.

I lifted my head up and opened my eyes even though they were heavy and tired.

"Ahh.. i'm… just so… tired…" I said in a sluggish voice.

"Here. This'll help wake you up a bit." Cindy handed me a glass of water with a big smile on her face.

I took it from her and took a small sip.

Putting the cup down I put my head down and scratched my arm.

"You really should stop scratching that." Tenma looked at me.

"I can't help it, it's just too itchy for me..." I mumbled.

I finally stopped after the itch ended, but my arm was still red.

Tenma walked away.

"Ah. Where's he going?" I thought.

He came back with a small tube in his hand.

"Take a little of this and rub it on your arm. It should help." He gave me the tube and smiled gently. 

I looked up at him and took the tube from him.

Opening the cap I put a little on my arm and rubbed it gently as told.

I handed the tube back to Tenma and he left again to put it away,

I put my head back down again for like the third time.

"I'm...so… tir-" I yawned and slowly closed my eyes, falling asleep.

It seemed like an hour had passed before I woke up again, somehow I made it from the table to the couch.

"Ahh.. you know what time it is?" I asked, rubbing my eye.

Cindy was at the kitchen table doing some work on her laptop.

"Oh, you're awake." She got up and looked at me through the doorway.

I sluggishly nodded.

"It's…. 3:48." Tenma looked down at his watch, sitting in the chair next to the couch.

"Ahh... do you think I should get going?" I sat up.

"You can stay as long as you wish." Tenma shrugged, looking down at the newspaper he had in his lap.

"Ehh… I don't wanna upset him as much as he already is, but i'd keep the door open just in case…" I said as I got up from the couch. ((Astro says this figuratively, just saying…~Emily))

I walked back inside my house, carefully closing the door hoping not be heard.

"I'm back!" I yelled.

"I'm right here you know!" The professor yelled back at me.

"Oh! I thought you were upstairs or something…"

I sat next to the professor on the couch.

"Well?" he looked at me.

"What?" I shrugged.

Elefun sighed, it was as if I was suppose to know already what he was going to ask me.

"What did you do today?" Elefun asked.

"Nothing, just went downtown…" I replied.

"You seem to be going downtown a lot…"

"Well where else did you think i'd go?" My voice sounded angry.

"Enough with the attitude!" The professor scolded ((OMG typical Parent be like… ~Emily))

"What?" I tilted my head.

"What else did you do?"

"Nothing else…"

"Hmm... interesting…"

"Were you expecting a more exciting story?"

"No no, carry along now, why don't you go see what your twin is doing or talk to your sister- just do something productive please!" ((omg Elefun. Astro is PLENTY productive. sheeeesh ~kate))

I shook my head.

"Astro!"

"I won't okay! You can't make me do something I don't want to do?!" I quickly snapped at him as I stood up.

"Astro. Go. Do. Something!"

I took a step back.

"MAKE ME!"

"Astro…."

"I'm not gonna do anything okay you old fart! Y-you- old school bastard!"

"That's enough!"

"No _you're_ enough, you're always telling me what to do and making me your slave, but do you make Atom you're slave- Ha! Not at all…"

There was a moment of silence.

Elefun hated when I pulled the "Atom" card on him.

Because i'm always right when I do.

"Right? You'd never turn your little angel into a slave, right?!"

Elefun stood up.

"You're not worth arguing with, because all you do is lie and create a loss cause! I should've known better than to come here!"

"Well now you're here, and you're gonna go upstairs and leave me alone!" Elefun yelled at me.

I cleared my throat.

"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A BITCH OKAY, YOU COULDN'T EVEN GIVE A DAMN JUST TO KEEP YOU ALIVE, YOU CHOSE FAVORITES, TALK SHIT ABOUT EVERYONE AND THEN YOU HAVE THE SUDDEN RIGHT TO MAKE ME YOUR SLAVE AND THINK YOU CAN WHIP ME INTO SHAPE, BUT YOU CAN'T- YOU- YOU JUST- CAN'T! I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT YOUR HELPLESS COLD SOUL AND IF IT WAS UP TO ME I'D GET MY ASS OUT OF HERE IN A HEARTBEAT, AND OOHHH, TRUST ME, I WOULD!" My voice was super loud.

"WELL THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Elefun tried matching my tone.

Atom came out of the hallway, he didn't seem too happy.

"C-can you guys just stop yelling!" Tears were streaming down his cheeks.

"Atom..." I walked over to him.

"Do you see what you've done, y-you- monster!" I put an arm around Atom to comfort him.

I let go of Atom.

"This is the last time i'm dealing with you, last strike and my ass is out of here and you can kiss it and cover it in chocolate all you like!" I stormed away. ((oooo damn… ~Emily)).

"TIME FOR DINNER!" I heard someone call.

I opened the bathroom door and stepped out.

"I'm coming!" I said, racing down the stairs.

"Took a shower?"

I nodded.

"Have a seat."

I sat down at the table.

"This smells really good professor!" I heard Atom exclaiming as he leaned over a pot to smell what was inside.

"Ahh yes... smells good indeed!" Elefun chuckled.

I folded my arms.

"Ahh Atom, go get you sister…" Elefun said to Atom.

"Okay!" Atom walked out of the kitchen and headed for Uran's room. 

"I'm not eating." I muttered.

"Oh come one Astro, you haven't eaten all week!" Elefun replied.

"And…. does my diet concern you?" I looked at him.

"Well no… but it's not healthy you know..." The professor pointed out.

He took the pot off the stove and carefully placed it in the center of the table.

Atom came back with Uran walking beside him.

"We all ready to eat?" The professor sat down in his chair.

"No." I muttered.

"Hush!"

A few minutes passed, we ate without saying a word.

"So… Astro…" Elefun looked at me.

"What?"

"You went to therapy, right?"

"Yeah."

"What did he say?"

"He said i'm not making any progress… I wouldn't blame him though, he sucks my soul out and leaves me pale looking…"

"Well _maybe_ if you took it seriously-"

"Elefun-"

"Professor…"

"Elefun-"

"Professor…"

"Elefun-"

"Professor…"

"ELEFUN-"

"PROFESSOR…"

I sighed.

"YOu really think I'd take it seriously, you think I must be crazy, otherwise you wouldn't send me to that jack-"

I looked at Uran.

"Ass" I mouthed.

"Astro, it's for your own good!"

"No it's not! It's not for my own good, because it's not working! It will never work okay?!" I stood up from my chair.

"Astro, sit down, please."

"Your begging doesn't satisfy me…"

"Astro, Sit down! Don't make me go over there!"

"Remember what I said, one wrong move and i'm gone!"

"Astro... just sit down i'm not gonna argue with you-"

"Oh no it's too late for that… you started it, so now we're gonna finish it!"

Elefun got up from his chair.

I had a look of determination on my face.

"Go." Elefun's voice sounded serious.

"Didn't I tell you already, i'm not your slave and you can't-"

"GO!" Elefun pointed at the stairs.

I was mad with fury.

I grabbed the pot…

and threw it on the ground, everything in it spilled and made a huge mess.

"You just messed with the wrong person you bastard! and guess what, i'm outta here!" I threw my hands up in the air as I slowly walked away.

It wasn't even a few minutes later, I left the house, slamming the door and not saying a word.

I dropped the box I was holding and tried not to cry. 

I slowly picked up the box and walked out of the house and the driveway.

I didn't know where I was going, but I didn't seem to care.

I couldn't help but quicken my pace as tears poured down my face.

I tripped over a rock and fell on my knees, the box flew forward and everything fell out.

I just stayed there hoping no one would notice me when they passed by.

Finally, I was able to muster up some courage and get up from the ground, my jeans were ripped and my shirt was covered in dirt, I put everything back in the box and continued to walk the sidewalk.

On my way walking I happen to pass Tenma's house.

Should I go see him?

Maybe just to say a goodbye before I head off.

Unless he takes me in?

But I highly doubt it, but that's just my mind going nuts.

I staggered into the driveway and made it to the door.

I knocked as tears streamed down my face again.

My arms became weak and the box fell on my foot.

"Ah!" I yelled.

I tried picking up the box again but my arms were too tired.

"Astro?!" I saw Tenma open the front door.

He must have heard my yelp of pain.

"Dad!" I tried to lean for a hug, but the box stopped me.

He quickly made his way up to me and helped move the box out of my way.

I fell to my knees as I cried even more.

"I-it i's s-so t-terrible!" I sobbed.

He got down on his knees and put his arms around me.

"It's ok." He whispered.

"I-I don't know what to do now?!"

"What happened exactly?"

"I…. left."

"Ah. I see. So he broke the last straw, huh?"

I nodded.

"It was bound to happen, I assume."

"I just…. I feel…. lost…"

Tenma held me tighter.

"I just don't know what to do, i'm definetly not going back, that's for sure, but it seems like now I have no where else to… go…" I sniffed.

"You do have us, you know?"

"But you'd never take me in, i'd just be too much for you and besides, I think I just need a taste of the real world to figure out what i'm gonna do…"

"You need somewhere to stay, and we wouldn't mind. Really."

"Really? Y-you'd do that for me?"

"Of course."

"Oh! Y-you don't understand how much I love you right now, no joke!" I smiled even though I was still crying. ((Awww ~Emily))

Tenma chuckled.

I broke off the hug and let Tenma help me off the ground.

"Well I guess I better get unpacking then…" I grabbed the box and slowly walked inside.

I looked behind me for a brief moment.

"Ah! It seems that i'm dirting the floor… ehh…"

"Oh. That's ok. I'll clean it up." Tenma walked inside, trying not to step on the dirt I left on the ground.

"So where do I put this?" I asked.

"There's a spare room down the hall, 3 doors down to the left."

"Okie dokie!" I carried the box into the room.

"Ah! can… you… uh… open the door for me?" I called out.

"Sure."

Tenma walked over to the door and opened it for me, I walked inside what seemed to be a pretty plain room (although I couldn't tell since the light was off and it was dark outside)

I put the box down.

Tenma turned on the light switch.

"Oh! There we go!" I chuckled.

I couldn't help but turn around and smile for some reason.

Tenma smiled back at me.

I remember that one time back in the beginning of Summer when I told Kaitlyn I was going back to Metro City and I just felt so strange, kinda like I feel now…. ((It's called being "happy" if you didn't know xD ~Emily))

Cindy was walking down the hallway and saw the light on in the room.

She walked up and saw Tenma was standing there.

"What's this?" She walked up behind him.

"Elefun." Tenma whispered to her.

"Oh. And I guess he'll be staying here now?"

"Yes. It's the least I can do. I am his father after all. You don't mind it do you?"

"You know I wouldn't mind." She smiled as Tenma wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"He looks so happy." She let out a sigh of relief and rested her head on his shoulder.

I got down on my knees and started taking things out of my heavy box.

"Shirt. Shirt. Shirt. Suspenders. Shirt. Jeans. Sketchbook. Complete collection of my favorite anime show… watch. Phone case. Brianna's necklace she left one day… " I said in a quiet voice as I took things out.

"All Time Low album… "

I grabbed a picture frame from the box.

I sighed.

"Why did I take this with me?" I muttered.

"What is it?" Tenma asked.

"Just a dumb picture frame…" I said as I put it back in the box.

I took it out of the box again

"You know what… you have it, I don't want it anymore." I handed the picture frame to Tenma.

"Aw. That's cute." Cindy said, looking at the picture in the frame.

"It _was_ cute... but now it just hurts to look at it." I looked at Cindy.

"I'm sure things with you two will clear up."

"I'm not so sure about that… he's changed.. _i've _changed… I think that um…. how old am I? Like? Oh yeah!"

"That picture was taken 3 years ago at the county fair, I've never forgotten it… but now I wish i could erase it from my mind…" I closed my eyes and tried not to shed a tear.

"He just doesn't understand you." Tenma said.

"Well that's obvious… no one understands me…"

"I understand you."

"And so do I." Cindy smiled.

"Isn't it a little too late?"

"I mean, there's nothing anyone or even myself can _do_ at this point… all that's left to do is just wait, wait it out and see what happens…" I took more stuff out of the box.

I sighed.

"I just…"

"...Never mind."

Tenma and Cindy stood behind me in silence for a few moments.

"I'm going to go get a drink..." Cindy walked out of the room.

I took out the last thing in the box.

"Laptop." I whispered, setting it aside.

I grabbed all my shirts and stuffed them in a drawer, I sat back down on the ground and pulled my knees up to my chest.

Tenma walked over and sat next to me.

I looked up at the ceiling, then at him.

I tried my best to put on a smile.

"I feel like i'm being pulled at like a tug-o-war game…" I said as I let out yet another sigh.

"Why is that?"

"I'm not s-sure…"

"I just feel so…. conflicted. I can't even make up my mind!"

"Why can't I be just… normal… just…. the same, not this crazy, assertive, rebel… a rebel in pain…. yeah... that's me alright…" I buried my face into my knees and arms.

"Maybe you need a little time to relax."

"Maybe... but how's that gonna help me? I go to therapy and talk to a bald dude that sucks out my living soul, time to relax doesn't seem exciting…"

"You don't have to go if you don't want to."

"Well I _had_ to go, the pro- the big nosed dude made me go…"

Tenma leaned back onto the ground, a puff of dust poofing out as he hit the ground.

"Ah. I haven't cleaned in here for a while." He coughed.

I looked at him and chuckled.

"You should've seen _my _room, this is nothing!"

He laughed.

"Just promise me you won't leave this room a mess."

"Ahhh… I don't make promises… It's sort of a uh.. what do you call it? _Mental_ thing… yeah…."

"Just try to keep it from getting messy." He got up.

"No promises, but I'll work on it…" I grinned.

He smiled at me and patted my head as he walked out of the room.

Tenma walked into the kitchen.

Cindy was leaning against the counter with a drink in her hand. 

She sighed as she took a sip of it.

"What's wrong?" Tenma asked her in a concerned tone.

"It's just… He's going through so much, and it hurts me to see him like that." 

"He'll be fine, dear." He took Cindy's free hand and held it in his.

"He just needs some better support." Tenma lifted up Cindy's head and looked into her eyes.

"Don't get too stressed over this."

"I won't." She sighed again and looked down into her cup.

Tenma gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Cindy couldn't help but smile.

"I love you." He whispered.

"I love you, too." She whispered back.

After putting everything away I plopped onto the bed (which I guess was mine now).

For a moment a thought passed my mind.

I looked down at the floor.

I shuttered at the recalling of a few memories in my mind.

Covering myself with a few blankets I tried going to sleep, forgetting that I left the bedroom door open.

The next morning to my surprise I ended up being the last to wake up. I walked slowly out of my room, to the hallway and out to the kitchen.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Cindy greeted me as she was getting a cup of coffee.

"D-did you…. know… that today is…uh… oh you guys may not know this, but today is ThrowbackThursday!" I sluggishly laughed.

"Oh really? Could've sworn today was Tuesday." Tenma joked as he looked down at a book he was reading on the table.

"Yeah… it's social media thing… you guys probably don't know because you might not have social media…" I yawned. 

"Oh. We know what it is. He's just messing with you."

"Oh really? Oh okay.. you had me there for a moment!"

I sat down at the dining table.

"I'm not eating, just to let you know…" I said as I scooted the chair forward

"oh. Well that's ok."

I nodded.

"Talk about no sleep…" I said in a sleepy tone as I massaged my temples.

"You didn't sleep well last night? You slept like a baby, I'm surprised you're still tired." Cindy sat down at the table between me and Tenma.

"Huh? But I never sleep?" I looked confused. 

She looked confused back at me.

"Yeah… It's a mental thing, you wouldn't understand…." I shook my head.

She shrugged

"But man that's a shocker… are you sure I really did sleep?"

Cindy nodded as she took a gulp of her coffee.

"Hmm…maybe things _are_ starting to roll in my favor…" I shrugged.

I headed back outside to go, yes, downtown again… but this time I had a real purpose, if you didn't know or you're too lazy to read your 2036-2037 school calendar your teacher should've given you the last day of school, school starts in four weeks.

Have I even dared to walk into a store for school stuff?

Hell no.

Which is why I'm leaving,

But I obviously left that detail out when I said I was going downtown.

I walked inside a store, and like you'd expect… everyone and their uncle was running like animals around the store grabbing things and quickly putting it in their cart as if It was every man for oneself.

I rolled my eyes and casually passed the giant crowd.

A few heads turned around to catch a glimpse of me.

I walked all the way to the back of the store since I knew that's where most of the stuff _really _was, but most people here are lazy and just buy whatever's out in the front of the store.

I grabbed a few of the essentials (Pencils, paper, binders, notebooks… just to name a few…).

When I walked up to the cashier, I swear she looked like Kaitlyn, but I knew Kaitlyn would never take a Summer job here… so I ignored the assumption and just left after paying.

"Hmm.. maybe I should take this back home before I go somewhere else…" I thought.

I walked back inside the house with too heavy bags in my hands.

"Man those stores are so crow- I mean, I had a great time!" I said, smiling.

"Oh. You're back!" Cindy was leaning on Tenma as they were watching TV.

"Not for long though… just came back to drop these bags off…"

"What did you get?"

"Uhhh…." I stuttered.

"N-nothing important…"

"I'm sorry for procrastinating, I promise to shop early for school supplies next year…." I muttered as I quickly walked to my room.

I walked back outside and went to go visit a few friends since I had nothing better to do. 

I came back a few hours later, nearing lunchtime. (Even though I don't eat lunch…)

"Sarah smiles like Sarah doesn't care, She lives in her world so unaware, Does she know that my destiny lies with her. Oh Sarah, are you saving me?" I made somewhat of a pretty good attempt to sing when I made it back home. ((Lol dat gon be Kaitas official song xD ~Emily))

I walked into the kitchen.

"Don't worry about me for lunch!" I hollered as I got a drink out of the fridge.

I left the kitchen and walked into the living room.

"I'm back." I waved my hand.

"Hello? You there?"

"Yelllo? Tenma? Cindy?" I waved again.

They didn't reply.

I sighed.

"Must be sleeping." I shrugged.

"Hmmm…" I looked at them. 

"How cute…" My voice had sarcasm in it.

I thought for a moment.

"Ah. I know what to do."

"HELP! I'M DYING!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. 

"What?! What's going on?!" Cindy quickly sat up and almost fell off the couch.

Tenma's eyes shot open and he had a look of shock on his face.

"I'm back."

"Astro?! Why would you do that. You almost gave me a heart attack." Tenma hyperventilated.

"Well you were sleeping, what was I suppose to do?"

"Wake us up… _kindly._" Cindy rubbed her forehead.

"Oh I see…" I couldn't help but chuckle. 

They both sighed and leaned back on the couch.

"Ehh.. i'm going back to my room… I'm bored…" I sluggishly left the living room and walked into the hallway.

A few days had gone by and it was already Monday afternoon, nearing towards the evening, Cindy was busy doing a few things for work, I assume Tenma was just walking around the house for no reason. and I was recording the ending of my vlog.

"And that my friends is the reason I now refuse to eat funsdip!"

"It's just all those germs people don't realize go in and out of your mouth then you eat that crap…. _nasty_!"

"Well It looks like i'm running out of time, don't forget if you liked this video give it a thumbs up!"

"and comment if you still would eat fundsip after watching this video."

"Follow my in picstagram at Thebandfanastro.. follow um… follow Reno since he's in a lot of my vlogs and just cause.. i think his picstagram is um… at… it'sDEFFINETLYnotReno? I'm not sure but check just in case.."

"Shoutout to everyone and now I will attempt to take a ghetto selfie."

"Ehh.. I look like vomit.. eww.. my face man just…. ew…."

"BAND FAN OUT!"

I clicked the stop button on my camera.

"Phew! that sucked the life out of me…" I grabbed my camera and walked over to my desk.

Tenma walked in. 

"Whatcha doing?"

"Ah!" I was startled.

"Uh… nothing…" I awkwardly opened my laptop.

"Ok." He chuckled.

I sighed.

"Okay… I was making a vlog for TubeYou…" I turned around and looked at Tenma

"Oh. Neat." ((Omg tenma ur such a nerd. who says "neat" anymore? lol ~kate))

I looked at him with a blank expression. 

"What?" He looked confused at me.

"Dad… no one says neat anymore."

"Really?"

"Really." I nodded.

"Oh well."

I turned back around and typed in my password.

Tenma walked over and sat on my bed.

"So… You wanna do anything today?" He asked me.

"I dunno.. i'm a little bored…." I shrugged.

"Me too… Your step-mother won't let me help her with her work today."

"My what?" I looked at him.

"Cindy. She is _technically_ your step-mother."

"Hmm.. guess i've never really thought of it like that.." I looked back at my laptop.

"Maybe I've been fussing over her a little too much." Tenma thought out loud, chuckling a bit.

"Ahh... relationships…what am I gonna do with them?" I clicked on a program.

"Hmm?"

"Oh nothing, Brianna's just been keeping me busy…"

"Oh… That's good…."

I reached for my camera and popped open a slot so I could take out my SD card.

"Hmm… maybe I just need a break." I scooted my chair out.

"Where do you have in mind?" I looked at Tenma.

He shrugged.

"Well, where do you like to go?"

"Hmm… don't really go out anywhere besides downtown….I like going to the ice cream shop and stare at ice cream I can't eat!"

"But I always go there too much, so sometimes I go over to the pizza place a few stores next to it…" I stretched my arms.

"Even though I can't eat the pizza either.. I mean I could, but i'd probably have to take mouse bites, or even smaller ones to be safe…" I continued.

"So pizza?"

"Yeah… I guess…" I shrugged.

I closed my laptop and went to go grab my jacket since it always got chilly at night no matter what season it is.

"We're going out to get pizza. I'll save you a slice." Tenma said to Cindy, who was sitting at the table, working on her laptop.

"Ok." She smiled.

"I can help you when we get back…."

"I'm fine, honey. I don't need help."

"Oh. Fine." Tenma smiled then kissed Cindy goodbye.

I stood there with a disgusted face even thought I was reminded that I do the same thing to Brianna…

Tenma walked up to me. 

"Who you lookin at, twerp?" He joked, giving me a playful pat on the back.

"The floor."

"Pft. Let's go."

"Are we walking there because my feet are killing me, even in these boots!" I complained, fixing my suspenders.

"We can drive." Tenma opened the door. 

"Oh thank the lord!"

I heard Cindy giggle as I walked out the door. Tenma closed it behind us.

"You know, I find it stupid that I already know how to drive, but I can't get my license yet…."

"What a shame."

"But that's just a secret, if anyone ask… I don't even know how to hold the steering wheel…"

"Seriously?" He chuckled.

"Yes seriously…" I chuckled back.

We joked around the whole way to the pizza place.

"Okay, here's the big moment we've all been waiting for… who's gonna go inside first!"

"Wanna try going in at the same time?"

"Woah dude slow down, my brain can only handle so much!"

He laughed as he walked in.

I walked in behind him.

We walked up to the counter.

"So whatcha' gonna get, cheese?" I looked at Tenma.

"Yeah. I don't really like toppings…." He said looking up at the menu.

"Same."

He ordered the pizza and we sat down at a table.

"Ahh this place is always so empty compared to the ice cream place, that place gets packed as soon as it opens!" I said, looking down at my phone.

"I haven't gotten ice cream in a while..."

"Me neither, it's been like a year or two since I've had it.. but I think that's because it's on my list of foods I can't eat the professor gave me…"

"You know, I could probably fix your problem."

"Haha… maybe… but it's all that stupid five minute power outage's fault, if the power would've never went out, i'd be enjoying some cheese pizza right now!"

"A power outage?"

"Yeah, remember like a year ago when the power went out for like five minutes, I was getting repairs when it happened, and it corrupted my system…"

"Hmm. I may be able to do something about that."

"Ehhh.. maybe we should hold it off… maybe.. um… we can do it before new years…because my life is already busy to begin with…"

"Sure…."

"Hold up, lemme put a reminder on my phone for this…"

He chuckled.

"There, It should remind me on Christmas Day…"

"Should give me a little more time to figure out exactly how to fix it."

"But didn't you know how to fix it already, you fixed my twin last Summer…"

"That's a little different."

"What's the difference?"

"It's a bunch of complicated robotics stuff."

"Eeeyyyeeeaaahhh... not really into robotics…. i'm more into Biology.."

"Haha. You should tell Cindy that. She'd be glad to talk about Biology with you."

"Haha, yeah… is it really true she left because of me… because that's what she tells me…"

"Yes, it's true."

"Pfft… yeah sure, like finding me in the rain inspired her to leave and go from the biggest name ever to a nobody… there _has_ to be more than just me that convinced her…"

Tenma shrugged.

"It's what she wanted to do."

"I wouldn't have done it if _I _had such a high status as she had… i'm sure now everyone in the Biology department hates her for leaving…"

"They don't hate her."

"And how do you know?"

"She has some friends from there she still talks to."

"Ehhh.. I still wouldn't have done it, but that's just me…."

"She is making a big contribution to robotics with her knowledge in biology. There aren't many robotics engineers out there who are former biologists."

"You don't say…" I thought out loud.

"I think the pizza's ready." Tenma walked up to the counter.

"Mmm... maybe if I drink water I can have a little nibble!"

"Go get some water then." Tenma walked back to the table with the pizza.

"Fine…" I walked over to the counter.

I came back a few seconds later with a cup of water.

"If this doesn't work, you _might_ wanna call the janitor…" I said before taking a sip of my water.

"Or drag me to the bathroom, whichever you prefer…"

Tenma took a slice of the pizza.

"Ehh.. I should've gotten juice…" I put the cup down.

I looked down at my phone to see if anyone texted me.

And of course, it was none other than Brianna.

"What does Brianna want?…" I muttered.

"Uhh.. how do I respond to this?" My cheeks went pink.

_Maybe_

_**Oh come on Astro, be serious, yes or no? **_

_I dunno._

_**Pfft fine, if your not gonna answer, imma go to the professor's and make you answer.**_

_I'm not at the professor's.._

_**Oh yeah *faceplams***_

_**So then i'll show up to your dads house and make you answer.**_

_I'm not there either._

_**Then where the hell are you?! **_

_At the pizza place…. _

_**Oh really? I'm at the ice cream place, imma finish this ice cream and you better have an answer by the time I get there pookie face!**_

…_._

_Fine._

_**Thank you.**_

I put the phone to sleep and set it aside.

"Ugh!" I put my head down showing how stressed I was.

"What's wrong?" Tenma asked me after he swallowed a bite of the pizza.

"I"m stressed!"

"Something up with you and your girlfriend?"

"Wha? A- are you.. _eavesdropping_ on me?"

"No…. you said 'What does Brianna want?'..."

"Oh."

"I just don't have an answer for her, and now she wants to come over so i can _tell _her my answer…. b-but I just- I don't have one!"

"What was the question?"

"Oh.. you wouldn't understand… this goes back to like when we first met… which was a _looong _time ago…"

"Ok…."

Brianna walked inside the pizza place, she tried to look for me.

"Oh gawd!" I put my head down to hide myself from her sight.

"There you are!" Brianna walked up to me.

"So? Do you have an answer?" Brianna asked.

I looked up at Brianna and shook my head.

She gave me a blank look.

"I'm just not sure okay!" I bursted out saying.

"Oh come on Astro it'll be cute, we can get the full package and just give everyone slideshow CD's for christmas."

"But you know I hate taking pictures!"

"But these are _professional _pictures for _our _two year anniversary!"

"Why can't we just do something else like watch a movie together, or like- I dunno.. anything but have our pictures taken…"

"Oh please.. it's just a picture and i'm sure your dad would love to hang it up in his room."

"Oh gawd no…" I slowly put my head down.

"Pfft fine… you win this time, but next time when it's our _three_ year anniversary, you better believe imma want pictures!" Brianna ruffled up my hair and began to walk away.

"See ya later Pookie face!" Brianna yelled as she waved goodbye and left.

"Phew! Glad that's over with!" I said with relief.

"Okay I think I'm ready for that small piece of the pizza." I took a sip of my water.

I took the smallest bite ever of the pizza and put it down on the plate in front of me.

I sat there for a moment to see what would happen.

I leaned forward and held my breath for a moment.

I quickly grabbed for the water.

"Ahhh... There we go..." I said with relief.

"Phew! No more pizza for me!" I leaned back in my chair.

"At least you're eating _something_." Tenma took another bite of his pizza.

"Yeah but I usually stick to drinking juices and energy drinks..."

I stretched my arms and yawned.

"How come when I don't sleep I'm tired but when I _do _sleep, I'm still tired..."

"Everyone asks that. People are just always tired..." Tenma chuckled.

"Ehhhh!" I put my head down.

"So…. You don't watch anime do you?" I looked up at him.

"Meh." He shrugged.

"I'm guessing that's a no…."

"Why do you ask?"

"'Cause I saw this anime recently. It's pretty good but a little too girly for me. Well, there was this kid that played the piano but he stops because his mom-…. oh hey that reminds me, didn't Cindy say something about you liking the piano?"

"Oh… Yeah. It's been like a week since that, hasn't it?"

"Well... It's a long story of how I got into playing it... But it seems like a pretty neat uh.. Instrument?"

"Yeah. I used to play it when I was younger."

"Was that _all _you played back then?"

"Yeah. Pretty much, instrument wise."

"Pfft..."

"I wouldn't really consider myself a musician... But I do play more than just the piano... But the pianos cool..."

Tenma smiled. ((this dork… lol ~kate)) ((xD ~Emily))

I looked down at my phone

"Looks like it's getting a little late..."

"We can get going if you'd like."

"Yeah. Let's go." I got up from my seat.

Tenma closed the box of pizza and carried it in front of him as we walked out.

"Do you remember where you parked, because my memory sucks…" I said to Tenma as we walked out.

"Over here." He walked in front of me.

"And your memory isn't that bad. You did remember how Cindy told you I like the piano."

"Oh really? Tell that to my frien-err I mean.. tell Brianna…" I chuckled.

"I HEARD THAT!" I heard someone yell in the distant.

I turned around.

"GO HOME BRIANNA!" I yelled back.

"LOVE YOU!"

"Er… uh… LOVE YOU TOO!" I yelled. ((lol it's so cute dat its funny xD ~Emily))

Tenma chuckled as he got in the car.

I got in the car after watching Brianna walk away to head home.

"Can you hold this?" Tenma handed me the pizza box.

"Ehh sure, I got nothing to lose…" I took the box from him.

"Hmmm.. sitting in the back seat is fun!" I smiled.

"Kinda like having a chauffeur." I chuckled.

We came back home a few minutes later, I carried the box of pizza inside the house.

Tenma and I walked into the kitchen.

Cindy was still sitting at the table, but now she was sleeping, her head almost on the laptop in front of her.

"Oh my gosh, thats so me after I finish my homework!" I laughed as I placed the box on the counter.

Tenma chuckled and walked over to her.

"Cindy. Sweetie." He whispered to her.

"Huh?" She slowly opened her eyes.

"Oh. I must've fallen asleep again..." She rubbed her forehead.

"I think you should let me help you." Tenma kneeled down next to her.

"Oh. Ok…." She closed her eyes again.

"You wanna go sleep in the bed?"

"Mmmhmmm." She nodded her head.

Tenma laughed as he lifted her up princess-style and carried her off to their bedroom. ((*w* THIS IS SO CUTE! ~kate))

"I'll be back in a minute, Astro. Just go chill on the couch." He said to me as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Okie dokie, seems like an easy task!" I said walking over to the couch.

A few seconds later, Tenma walked out of the hallway and sat on the couch next to me.

"Oh… hello there citizen." I said looking at Tenma.

"And hello to you too." He looked back at me

"Nice weather we're having, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes. Very nice."

"I hear you have apple juice in the fridge, is this true?"

"Hmm. I do recall seeing some in there."

"Hmmm… interesting…"

"Would you like some?"

"Hmmm.. i'm not sure…maybe I do… maybe I don't…." I said in a casual voice, swaying my head from side to side.

"Or maybe…. i'm not thirsty at all…"

i thought for a moment

"Dang… that just sounded really wrong…"

Tenma chuckled.

"Ugh! I'm so uninspired!" I groaned changing my position.

I put my hands on my stomach and looked at the ceiling.

"It's funny how in one week, many things can happen…" I said in a low tone.

"Tell me about it." Tenma leaned back on the couch.

"Bloop." I poked Tenma's nose.

He looked at me with a blank face.

"What are you doing?"

"I dunno." I shrugged.

"... Ok?"

I chuckled.

"You know what time it is because I think i'm due for a nap, even though I _hate_ naps!" I asked.

"It's 7:53." Tenma looked down at his watch.

"Ehhh… I still got time. Lemme know when it's midnight.." I spoke with a sigh.

"Ah. Ok."

"Yay! that way i can sleep till one and then stay up the rest of the night!"

Tenma laughed.

"I know… my sleeping habits are abnormal, no need to question why I barely fit in an hour of sleep…"

"Let's stop talking about sleeping. It's making me sleepy." He yawned.

"Same." I yawned back.

"Mmm.. I don't like classical music…" I said with a giggle.

"That was random."

"Well it's true.."

"I don't like it that much." Tenma stretched.

"Same."

I sighed and lied down on my side.

"Mmmm…. my head hurts.." I said in a sleepy tone, trying to keep my eyes open. ((Cuz Astro always look adorbs when he sleeps O/O ~Emily))

Tenma moved his hand over and gently rubbed my head.

My mind seemed to ease a little bit.

"Ah! I can't sleep!" I tried waking myself up.

"Why not?"

"It's… it's… t-the…- NIGHTMARES! that….. uh… b-bother… me…"

"Nightmares?"

"Ahh.. it's a long story…"

"Tell me."

"Ehh.." I moaned.

"Come on. I could help you get rid of them."

I sighed.

"Well.. where do I begin?"

"I think it all begins with the day I was born up to now…"

"Or maybe it was… I dunno… all I know is that this has been going for for quite some time… and it really bothers me… that's all i know.." ((haha i didn't have to write a whole story! yay! emi-chan ish smart! ~Emily))

"Hmmm." Tenma looked down at me.

I nervously smiled at him.

"Maybe there's something you need to let go that you've been keeping in and it's bothering you."

I shrugged.

"Just try sleeping. If there's something wrong, I'll be right here to help."

I slowly nodded and closed my eyes.

It was almost an hour that had passed, I wanted to toss and turn around for a moment.

I kept shaking my head as if I was disagreeing or saying no to something I must've been dreaming about.

"No… stop…" I mumbled.

"No…" I mumbled again.

"No!" I shuddered.

"Astro?" Tenma shook my shoulder.

"Ah, noo!" MY voice grew louder.

"Astro. Wake up."

My eyes slowly opened.

"What?"

"You were having a bad dream."

"OH.. I couldn't tell, everything was too fast and blurry for me…" I said, rubbing my eye.

Cindy sluggishly walked out of the hallway.

"Oh. You're awake, dear." Tenma looked at her.

"I heard something in here." She yawned.

"Oh.. uh…" I rubbed my eye again.

"Astro was just having a bad dream."

I sluggishly nodded my head.

"Aw. I hope you're better now." Cindy walked over to the couch and sat on the edge of it.

I yawned and moved my legs so she could sit back all the way.

"I'm still…. tired…."

"Well, I'm not going to keep you from sleeping..." Tenma said.

I nodded and closed my eyes again.

I shuddered for a moment but finally relaxed and leaned my head against the couch.

The next day I found myself in bed covered in what felt like a million sheets suffocating me.

I walked into the hallway.

"Morning or afternoon?" I asked.

No response.

"Is anyone even here?" I called out.

Still no response.

I sighed and walked over to the couch.

"Ugh gotta visit the bald dude today…" I muttered.

Tenma stretched as he walked out of the hallway.

"Oh, _now_ someone's awake." I smiled.

"Ugh. I think I slept a little too much…." He cracked his neck.

"Why, is it the afternoon?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"Oh. It's 10." He looked at the clock in the kitchen.

"Oh… that's early for me…" I said, stretching.

"So? Any of plans for today? I need something to do till six when I have to go to see the 'soul-sucker' " I asked.

"You don't _have_ to see him."

"Technically I still do since someone I assume is paying for it and that would be a waste of their money if I don't go and also because I have nothing else to do... And maybe this will help me like 20 or 30 years from now!"

"Well. If you wanna go…." Tenma sat on the other side of the couch.

"I don't want to go... But at the same time I do have to and kinda want to..."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

"Ever get those sudden on and on headaches?" I asked.

"Sometimes."

"Yeah..."

I got up from the couch and went into the kitchen to grab something to drink.

"Gotta love energy drinks!" I said walking back to the couch with the drink in my hand.

"So I was thinking we could just go for a walk. Cindy has more work to do today… And I could use some fresh air."

"Maybe..." I took a sip of my drink.

"But your gonna have to wait a while because I take forever to get ready.."

"That's ok."

"Ehhh fine.. I'll see you in an hour..." I got up from the couch and walked to my room.

An hour later I came back out of my room, it looked like I was wearing the same thing but if you looked closer you could tell I wasn't.

"Ready!" I smiled.

Tenma got up from the couch.

"Oh wait give me a sec!" I adjusted my suspenders.

"Ok I'm ready..."

We walked out the back door and made our way towards the woods.

"Ahh this is bringing back some memories, recent ones too..." I looked at Tenma.

"Like... Last Summer, and... Like I dunno four or five years ago...how long has it been since I've been born?"

"About five years, yes."

"Yeah, so about five years ago I came here.. Gosh, that's a long time!"

"Where have all the years gone?" I sounded like I was almost about to cry.

Tenma ruffled my hair.

I laughed.

"I miss the old days..."

"Hmmm." Tenma looked up at the sky.

"But I wish I could take it all back... You know, I wish I could be given a second chance to make it all up and not be such a troublemaking jerk face stinky pants..."

"You can always change now. It's not worth going back and fixing things, because then you would've never learned from your mistakes."

"Well what do you think I've been trying to do? I've always wanted to change... But.. It's like I can't no matter how hard I try.. I just... I... I... Can't..." I closed my eyes.

I stopped walking.

Tenma looked back at me.

"Astro?"

I sighed and tried to keep it in.

He walked in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders.

I shook my head.

"Saving me isn't gonna help.." I whispered.

"Don't get so upset over something so small." He leaned down and hugged me.

At first I didn't react but eventually gave in.

"I love you." I whispered.

"I love you too, son."

I smiled as we ended the hug.

"Maybe I should just let the whole thing go... It's stressing me out too much."

"You should. You only have a few more weeks until school starts and you should spend that time relaxing."

"Maybe...but... relaxing isn't something easy for me." I shrugged.

"Unless you consider drowning myself in music relaxing?"

"Whatever makes you comfortable." Tenma shrugged as we began to walk again.

"Mmm.. Okay.."

"Ehh... Maybe jeans weren't such a great idea..." I said after we walked a greater distance than before.

"We aren't going _that _far."

"I know but I'm just so hot!" I complained, wiping my forehead.

"You should've worn shorts then."

"But I don't have any shorts... I wear this everyday.. Not the _exact_ same thing, but you get what I mean..."

We walked further until we reached the end and got to the metal gate.

"Oh, I see you've fixed the hole that was there."

I walked up close to get a better look, I did my best not to get pricked.

I put my hand on the metal gate.

"Ah!" I retracted my hand.

"Whoops." I looked down at my index finger.

"You should really do something about that gate, it keeps pricking me every time I touch it." I turned around and spoke to Tenma.

"Maybe you shouldn't touch it then."

"Meh."

We started walking back.

"Ah that gate got me good, do you think I'll faint?" I asked.

"Why would you faint?"

"I dunno I learned that like the first few days of Health class until they pulled me out because I'm a robot, so now I just help out the librarian during that class..."

"Well, you're not going to faint if you get a little cut on your finger."

"Oh good, because that would be embarrassing."

Tenma chuckled.

We made our way back inside.

"Well that killed a few hours... I should go get ready!" I said as soon as I walked inside.

As I walked through the hallway to my room, I saw Cindy walking on her way to the living room.

"Dang it, I don't know what to wear!" I said looking at my dresser.

I walked out into the hallway quite some time later, I thought I'd go into the kitchen and get a drink before leaving.

Cindy was standing at the counter, looking in one of the cabinets.

"Do you know if we have any Powersade in the fridge, Mom?" I asked Cindy.

I gasped and covered my mouth.

"What was that, Astro?" Cindy turned around.

"N-nothing! Hehe... I think I got it..." I blushed and walked away.

Cindy shook her head with a smile.

"You know you can call me 'Mom' if you want..."

I turned around.

"O- okay..." I stuttered.

I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where Tenma was.

"I think I can stay a few minutes before I gotta go..." I said, plopping onto the couch.

"I heard that in there." Tenma chuckled.

"Oh gawd... Please don't rub my stupidness in my face..." My cheeks turned light pink.

"Haha. It's ok. You don't need to be embarrassed."

"Of course I do..."

"Well, we both kinda saw it coming."

"Really."

"You're really warming up to her. It was bound to happen. But I wasn't sure whether you'd say it by accident or you would just flat out ask her."

"Ehh I guess I am..." I shrugged.

"You know... I had the strangest dream..." I thought out loud.

"Oh really? What was it about?"

"It was really weird, I dreamed that I had _another_ sibling, as if Uran and Atom weren't enough..."

"Strange…."

"I know right... Wouldn't that be funny though..."

"Yeah… It would." Tenma chuckled.

"Then again... I guess I wouldn't really mind..."

"Am I annoying you with my opinions?" I asked

"No."

"Oh okay because I-"

I looked down at my watch.

"AH! I better get going, see you guys in an hour!" I raced out the door.

I walked into the same room again as I did countless times before.

"Ah bub! I know what you're going to ask me!" I began.

"How are you feeling today?" Gil asked.

I rolled my eyes.

"Hmm... I dunno.." I shrugged.

"Come on, be honest Astro..."

I sighed.

"Well.." I looked at the ceiling.

"Today, surprisingly I feel... _loved_." ((Aww ~Emily))

"Interesting, anything you'd like to add on to that..."

"You're ruining my mood."

"I can tell you feel very irritated."

"So what, you're some kind of physic weirdo that can read my mind?"

"No, but I have a good understanding.."

"Well DUH?! That's your job, to understand people and fix them..."

"What did you do today?"

"I took a walk and pricked myself."

"Did you go alone?"

"Oh, oh I see what this is you-"

"I assume you didn't go alone."

"Why would I go alone?"

Gil pushed up his glasses.

"I went with my dad.."

"Hmmm... Interesting..."

"Are you interested in everything I do?"

"Well... No..."

"Oh... Good."

"I just find you quite strange, you're not like any of the other people I see..."

"So what does that mean?"

"Well.. It's a bit of a challenge for me..."

"You're welcome." I nodded.

"But not to worry... I'm sure we can work this out and help you.. You have potential, you just need to let your self allow for change, you just need to let go of some things and when you let go of them, you will be able to allow change and get better..."

I sighed and looked away.

"I know it's not gonna be easy... But I have faith that you can do it."

I smiled.

We continued on talking for the rest of the hour until I came back home.

"IM BACK!" I Yelled once I got through the front door.

"Hello." Cindy smiled at me from the couch.

"Today actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be..." I shrugged.

"That's good." Tenma looked at me.

"But I still hate him because he sucks my soul out of me too much..."

"Oh well... I think I'm just gonna go take a shower and try to go to sleep..." I scratched the back of my head and walked into my room to get clothes for my shower.

Friday already came around and I was setting up my camera in the kitchen to do my next vlog.

"I hope I bought the right stuff, this is cookie dough, right?" I thought as I looked at the yellow and red packaging.

"Astro? What are you doing?" Cindy walked by the kitchen and saw me.

"Ssh! I am attempting to soon record a video on how to bake cookies!"

"Haha. Ok."

"Don't worry, I can't eat them, so I might as well give them to you guys..."

"Oh sure. We'll have some. But why don't you give some to your friends, too."

"Ehhh.. But they're too far away!"

"Don't be so lazy, Astro"

"Fine, I think I can spare one for Brianna."

Cindy chuckled as she rolled her eyes.

"Well you have fun baking your cookies."

"And you have fun waiting for them!"

She chuckled again as she walked away.

"Ahh okay, now since she's gone I can start recording.." I walked over to my camera and pressed "RECORD"

"WHATS UP EVERYONE IT'S UH... Uh... Oh gawd I forgot who it was..."

"Oh yeah, it's Astro and today I will be showing you how I make chocolate chip cookies!"

"Mmmmm"

"Yum"

"Ahh"

"Ok, so what you need is..."

"Chocolate chip cookie dough from the store or wherever you buy your food stuff at..."

"An oven.."

"A cookie sheet and a tin thingy mijigy..."

"So first you wanna turn on your wonderful oven and preheat it to 375 degrees... Because the package says so, and I read the instructions..."

"Next you open the package and you put the dough onto the cookie sheet you places onto the tin thingy..."

"So when I asked on picstagram what you wanted to see for suggest to the band fan, you guys said a food tutorial and I thought 'what do I know how to make' and then it just came to me 'cookies!' So I decided to make this even though I can't eat it, it thought it'd be nice to show you guys and maybe drop some off to Brianna..."

"And so now you simply place the tin thing into the oven carefully and we shall wait in time lapse for about nine to eleven minutes..."

I kept myself occupied for a few minutes while I waited for the cookies to finish.

"So then.. When it's done, you just grab your mittens and you take the tin thingy out of the oven..."

"Place it on the table."

I looked up.

"HOLY CRAP WERE YOU HERE THE WHOLE TIME?!"

"No. I was just coming in to get a drink." Cindy looked surprised.

"You scared me for a second there..."

"Oh. Did I interrupt your video?"

"No it's okay, I have the power of video editing to fix it..."

"Oh. ok. Well I'll be out in just a second." She walked over to the refrigerator, grabbed a soda bottle, then walked out.

"Ok so now you just let the cookies sit out for two minutes and you're ready to enjoy this sweet...uh... Cookie!"

"Hope you guys liked my crap ass cooking because I know I did!"

"Don't forget to add me on picstagram it's thebandfanastro and also add the co-host of this channel Reno, his is itsdefinitelynotreno. I'll see you guys on Monday!"

"BAND FAN OUT!" I walked over to camera and stopped it from recording.

I grabbed a plate from the cabinet and placed a few cookies on it.

I took the plate with me to the living room.

"Chocolate chip cookies made with love?" I said when I walked in with the plate.

"Oh. Thank you, Astro!" Cindy took a cookie.

"Yeah I can't eat them so I might as well donate them to you guys..." I shrugged.

"That's very thoughtful of you." Tenma smiled as he took the plate and put it on the coffee table.

"I'm gonna go give some to Brianna, be back in a little bit." I said as I walked away.

I headed out the door to Ken's so I could give the rest of the cookies to Brianna.

I knocked on the door.

"Let me guess, those are for Brianna." Ken said when he opened the door.

"Do you know where she is?" I asked

Brianna came up to the door.

She gasped.

"Are those for me?" Brianna asked.

"Yep. All yours.."

"Oh my gosh!" Brianna pushed Ken aside and gave me a hug.

"Ah, thank you!" She took the plate from me and gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

I blushed.

"See you later?" I asked.

"Yeah sure!" Brianna smiled and walked back inside.

I looked behind me for just a second and saw Elefun outside his house, getting in his car.

Ken closed the door.

I gasped and went on my way running back to my house.

When I got home I saw someone pull up into the driveway.

I had forgotten that I had left my keys at home.

I knocked on the door rapidly.

Tenma opened the door.

"What's wrong Astro?"

"T-there's... S-someone coming!" I exclaimed.

"Who?" Tenma looked out the door.

He saw the car that had pulled in came to a stop and turn off.

"Get inside, Astro."

I nodded and did as told.

"What's going on?" Cindy walked up to me and asked.

"Ahhh nothing uh, Mom... D- don't worry- man you went through those cookies fast!" I quickly replied.

"What are you doing here?" Tenma asked the person as they got out of their car.

"I know you have Astro here..."

"And your point is…?"

"I'd like to speak with Astro and apologize to him, possibly take him back..." The person got closer.

"Astro. Come here for a moment." Tenma looked back at me.

"Huh?" I turned around with a gasp.

"Come here, please."

"Oh... O-okay..." I slowly walked over to Tenma.

"Well?" Tenma looked at the person.

"You said you wanted to apologize."

"Yes, I would, I'd like to say that I'm sorry Astro, and I am willing to take you back, and I promise not to be so harsh..."

"I accept your apology, Doc. But I'm not leaving." I folded my arms.

"Why of course you are... You wouldn't wanna be here..."

"In your dreams!"

"Astro..."

"No! You can't make me! Dad?"

"If he doesn't want to leave, then he doesn't have to."

"Fine... Be my guest, but you will regret your decision, Astro!"

"Goodbye." Tenma closed the door.

"When did Elefun start acting so much like me?" He looked at me and Cindy and asked with a smirk.

"When I came back from the Underground City..." I replied.

"Hmm. Well maybe he needs a therapist, too."

I laughed.

"But man those were the days... I laid around and did nothing all day living there... But I see now how much of a homesick pain it's given me..." I sighed.

"You're way too lazy." Tenma chuckled.

"I am not! Okay, well maybe a little, but still!"

We all laughed.

"I'm hoping that's the last we see of him, I need my relaxation time, and I ain't getting any if I keep thinking of that big nose old fart, Grandpa Sanders!" I folded my arms.

The weekend passed smoothly and soon it was Monday again. I was sitting on the couch chilling.

"Oh ideas ideas ideas..." I kept thinking of ideas for my next vlog I planned to record today.

"I got nothing!" I said out loud by mistake.

"Whoops!" I covered y mouth.

"What?" Tenma asked me from the other side of the couch.

"Ahh nothing..." I looked away in embarrassment.

"Oh really?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"Hmmm. Ok."

I tried to think a little more.

Tenma changed the channel on the TV.

"Hmmm..." I looked over at him.

"Nah." I thought.

"Think Astro think!" I tapped on my head.

"Gosh i wish it was Friday again, that way people can chose the topic for me..." I scooted back.

I covered my mouth again.

Tenma looked at me.

I gave him a thumbs up as my face went pink and I looked embarrassed.

He chuckled and slowly shook his head.

"Phew! All I need is my family watching my TubeYou..." I said with relief.

Tenma smiled and rolled his eyes, looking back at the TV.

"At least I hope they don't already... That would be a shame..." I looked over at Tenma again.

He chuckled again.

"What? Oh gawd..."

"Hmm?" He looked over at me.

"Y-you don't... Never mind..."

I heard a knock at the door.

"Do I get it?" I asked.

"Sure."

I got up and walked over to the door to go open it.

"Hey pookie face!" Brianna greeted.

"Oh! Hey Brianna!" I gretted back.

"I have your plate, I was putting away dishes and when I noticed this one didn't look like the rest, I remembered that I forgot to give it back to you, so here." Brianna held the plate out to me.

"Sure I'll take it." I said as I grabbed the plate from her.

"And thanks for the cookies they were really yummy!" Brianna chuckled.

"Oh thanks, I made them."

"Oh really? Maybe you have a baking talent like me, because you know... According to my grandma, most of the people in my family were bakers and had a really great baking talent.."

"Hmmm... Maybe you can bake a cake for our 2 year anniversary?"

"Pfft... Like I wouldn't?"

I laughed.

"Well I better get going..."

"Don't you wanna stay or something, I mean you're already here..." I shrugged.

"Maybe another day..."

"Well if you insist..."

"See you!" Brianna waved goodbye and started walking away.

"See ya!" I waved.

I closed the door and walked back to the couch, not realizing that I still had the plate in my hand.

"Are you going to put that in the sink?" Tenma asked me, looking at the plate.

"What?" I tilted my head, confused.

"Look down."

"Oh!"

"Yeah... I'll go put it on the sink..." I got up and slowly walked away.

I walked back over to the couch and sat down.

"Do you think it's weird if your girlfriend just shows up to your house just to give you a plate and leaves?" I asked.

"Not really." Tenma shrugged.

"Maybe I need help then..."

"Haha. Maybe."

I sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh! N-nothing! I just feel so weird, I'm so used to um... What's the word I'm looking for..."

"Like, im used to always being busy and told what to do, never really had it the way I wanted, but I guess now I can actually say i've gotten what I wanted, and it's kinda weird to me I dunno... Makes me all warm inside." I chuckled.

"Maybe you're happy."

"I dunno..." I shrugged.

"It's just really strange but I kinda like it." I smiled.

Tenma smiled back.

I leaned back.

"So how ya doing?"

"Hmm?" I looked at him.

"Oh. Nothing."

"Suit yourself." I shrugged.

I looked at the TV and saw a commercial playing.

It suddenly gave me an idea.

"Woah, I gotta write this down!" I stormed out of living room and quickly ran into my room.

I quickly sat down in my office chair and grabbed my manga pen.

"I know I shouldn't use you since you help ink my artwork, but I'm in a major crisis here!" I opened the cap and scribbled my idea onto a sheet of notebook paper. ((nuuuuu what a waste of an expensive professional pennnn ;n; ~kate))

"Phew! Finally have an idea for my video later..." I sighed and walked back out into the living room again.

"Oh sorry about that... an idea just came over me for my Uh... Something..." I said as I sat back down on the couch.

"Oh. That's ok." Tenma shrugged.

I lied back down on my back and looked at the TV.

I closed my eyes and took another nap, I decided I might as well sleep before I work my butt off recording, editing and drawing my thumbnail.

I snored.

About 30 minutes passed by, I was still sleeping while the TV continued playing something.

I tossed around.

Everything seemed fast a blurry in my mind again, I couldn't tell what was going on.

My legs seem to squirm around a lot and I couldn't get comfortable.

I finally curled up into a ball and relaxed.

I seemed to be somewhat okay for a few minutes until I woke up with watery eyes.

"You alright there?" My dad looked at me.

I sighed and nodded.

"You sure you're ok?"

I got up from the couch and slowly walked away.

"Wah? Where are you going?"

I walked over to my room and closed the door.

I sat on the floor and let the tears and pain consume me.

I heard a knock on the door.

I ignored it and sniffed.

"Astro, if somethings wrong, you can always talk to me about it." I heard Tenma say from the other side of the door.

I tried to shut the world away and tried to find a world, or even a place that better suited and comforted me in my mind.

I just sat there and did nothing but curl up into a ball and cry my eyes out.

I heard the knock again.

I ignored it.

"Come on Astro."

I shook my head.

"Astro…."

I slowly got up.

My hand hesitated to open the door.

It became a little too much for me at the moment.

I pressed my head against the door and sniffed, trying to hold all my pieces together.

I put my hand on the doorknob and tried to turn it.

More tears streamed down my cheeks.

I opened the door and almost collapsed.

"Ah." Tenma caught me.

I didn't know what to do.

"It-it hurts!" I whispered.

He held me tightly.

"You're ok."

I sniffed as more tears rolled down my face.

Tenma slowly rocked side to side and tried to soothe me.

I stopped sniffing and relaxed a little.

"There there." He rubbed the back of my head.

I smiled, tears still streaming out of my eyes.

The pain seemed to slip away for a moment.

"Why does this always happen to me?" I asked in a low tone.

"What?"

"N-never mind." I shook my head.

"Just tell me, Astro." He let go and looked in my eyes with a stern seriousness.

"Why does this always happen to me?" I repeated.

He sighed.

I sighed back.

"You really are quite a handful." Tenma chuckled.

"Sorry..."

"I don't mean it in a bad way."

"Oh!" I chuckled back.

He hugged me again.

This time I enjoyed the hug and laughed cheerfully.

Cindy walked by the hallway and saw us.

She giggled and leaned against the wall.

Saturday I was downtown since I didn't feel like staying at home all day and I had another place to go.

"Big sale today! Everything is 50% off in the store!" Someone said to me when i walked inside.

"Yeah yeah, I know you're putting out your sales just like everyone else..." I replied back.

"Now I just need to head over to the back" I thought.

I too a sheet of paper out of my pocket.

"7... 7... Where do you find a size seven?" I looked around.

I couldn't seem to find what I was looking for.

I sighed and left the store.

"Well at least I know where my last stop is..."

I came back home a few hours later with bags in my hand again.

"Watcha got there?" Cindy looked over at me from the couch.

"Oh I didn't tell you, did I?" I asked with a smile.

"Tell me what?"

"Oh I guess I haven't..."

"Well what is it?"

"Oh well uh... It's Uh... Me and Brianna's anniversary..." I blushed.

"Oh. Well, happy anniversary." She giggled and tilted her head.

"Aww, I hope she doesn't show up yet, I need to wrap these gifts!" I said, walking off to my room.

Tenma saw me walking into my room with the bags in my hand.

"Those for Brianna?" He asked with a smirk.

"I told you, didn't I?"

"Yeah."

I chuckled.

I took the things out of my bag and nicely placed them on my bed.

"Hmm. Okay, now I just need to wrap these up!" I walked over to my closet.

The doorbell suddenly rang.

"Ahh!" I scrambled to wrap everything up and put it on my desk.

"COMING!" I ran for the door.

"Hello, Brianna." Cindy beat me to the door and greeted her.

"Hello Mrs... Uh..." Brianna looked over Cindy's shoulder and spotted me.

"ASTROOOOO!" Brianna ran up to me and toppled me over.

"Ahh, hey Brianna!" I laughed.

"HAPPY TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY POOKIE FACE!" Brianna squeezed me harder.

"Okay... I think you're gonna break my insides..."

Brianna let go of me.

"And guess what I got..." Brianna said before turning around.

"Hey?" She got up.

"Where'd my box go?" Brianna asked.

She walked back outside.

"Oh! Here it is!" Brianna picked up the box.

She carried it inside and put it on the table.

"I baked you a cake!" Brianna said as she lifts the top off the box.

"No way, you didn't make that..." I said, looking the the cake that looked like it was from the store.

"Nope, I made it myself, sure it took me a while. But I enjoyed making it for you!" Brianna smiled.

"Aww... But you know I can't eat cake, right?"

Brianna sighed.

"I know, but I thought it would be a nice gift for you and..."

I put my hands on Brianna's shoulder.

"It's okay..." I said to her.

Brianna gave me another hug.

"So what did you get me?" She asked.

"Oh. I'll go get it…." I ran off to my room.

Brianna sighed with admiration.

I came back with a wrapped box in my hand.

"Ooh a present! I wonder what's inside? Ooh what if it's a drawing, or- or a movie! Or maybe it's a new phone case, oh no the box is too big... Maybe it's a shirt! But what kind of shirt?" Brianna thought out loud, rambling on to herself.

I giggled as I handed the box to her.

She quickly unwrapped it.

She took out a hoodie and unfolded it.

"Oh my gosh!" Brianna squealed.

"Am I showing my boyfriend spirit or what?" Brianna asked as she held the hoodie up to her chest.

I laughed.

"No way man! How'd you get this, did you hire someone to make It for you?"

I shrugged.

"And it's yellow, my favorite color!"

"I am going to wear this effin amazing hoodie for the rest of my effin life!" Brianna said to me.

I chuckled as Brianna put it on.

"See look, now I'm Astro!" Brianna laughed.

"Ooh and it's a little big too so I can wear it to bed!"

Brianna ran up to me for another hug.

"Thank you, Astro." She looked up at me.

I smiled back.

"I love you."

I held her tighter.

"I love you too." I replied back.

Brianna broke off the hug to give me a kiss.

I heard someone chuckle.

I broke off the kiss to see who it was.

"DAD?!" My face went red.

"Haha. Not too bad a pick there, son." ((*facepalms* ~kate))

I facepalmed.

"Oh don't worry Astro, not like he's taken any pictures he plans on making Christmas cards out of..." Brianna reassured me.

"Well yeah but-" I folded my arms.

"Oh don't worry about him Tenma, he just gets embarrassed easily..." Brianna said, looking at Tenma.

"I know." He chuckled again.

"Now what?" I shrugged.

"I'm just gonna… go back into… the living room." Tenma began to walk away. ((lol this dork ~kate))

"Yeah you go do that you nosy butt!" I said to him as he walked out.

I looked at Brianna.

"Maybe we should be more careful next time..." I said.

Brianna rolled her eyes with a chuckle.

I picked Brianna up off the ground.

"Ahhh! A-Astro! What are you doing?! Put me down!" Brianna yelled.

"Na-ah, I shall carry you off to my room!" I replied.

"Ahh!"

I walked to my room carrying Brianna.

I plopped her into my bed.

Brianna stuck her tongue out at me.

I giggled.

Brianna sat up as I sat down next to her:

She leaned her head on my shoulder, I put an arm around her and let her come a little more closer.

Brianna closed her eyes and it seemed like she had fallen asleep. A few minutes passed and I carried her out to the living room, Tenma wasn't there anymore.

I put her down and started playing with the TV remote trying to find the right channel. When I finally found it, I leaned my head on top of Brianna's and watched TV until I fell asleep as well.

Tenma and Cindy walked into the living room.

"Aw. Sweetie, look at them." Cindy titled her head and smiled.

Tenma chuckled and walked over to us.

I readjusted my head.

"Shhhh." Cindy quietly shushed Tenma.

"Oh." He whispered.

She slowly walked over and gently laid a blanket over us.

I smiled.

She and Tenma quietly walked into the kitchen.

Cindy sat down at the table after getting a glass of water.

Tenma chuckled a little.

"Hmm?" She looked up at him.

"Nothing. YOu're just so cute and pretty sometimes." He smiled at her.

"Sometimes?" She joked.

"Haha. You're a great mother." He walked up to her.

"Don't you mean I'm going to be?"

"No. You are already one."

"Ohhhh." She giggled.

Tenma gave her a kiss on her forehead.

A few hours passed, Brianna woke up and rubbed her eye.

"Hmmm..." Brianna looked up.

I was still sleeping.

Brianna blushed with a chuckle.

Brianna scooted over.

"Huh?" I woke up.

"Oh! Sorry..." Brianna apologized.

"Oh that's okay.." I said rubbing my eye.

"I'm gonna get a drink... Be right back.." I said as I got up.

I walked out of the living room and went to the kitchen.

"Looks who's awake!" Cindy smiled at me as Tenma turned around in his seat.

"Huh?" I looked at her.

"You were sleeping."

"Yeah, and?"

"Nothing…."

"You weren't watching me were you?" My cheeks went pink.

"No no. I wasn't watching you." She shook her hand.

I sighed with relief.

"Good." I said, grabbing a bottle of water.

I walked back into the living room.

"Hey pookie face!" Brianna greeted.

"Yellow!" I greeted back as I plopped onto the couch.

Brianna leaned next to me again.

"So what's up?" I looked down at Brianna.

"Nothing."

"Nothing." I mimicked her.

Brianna rolled her eyes with a smile.

"When do you have to leave?" I asked, looking at my watch.

"I dunno... When do you want me to leave?"

"I dunno... If it were up to me I'd keep you here forever!" I said, tickling Brianna.

"Ah! Stop!" Brianna struggled to get out of my grip.

"No! I forbid you to leave!" I tickled her more.

"Ah stop it-it tickles!"

"Too bad, this tickle monster isn't gonna quit for nothing!"

I kept tickling her for a few more seconds until I stopped.

"Ahh that tickled too much.."

I sighed.

"Hmm?" Brianna looked at me.

"Nothing." I pulled her close and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

Brianna giggled.

"Ahh, it looks like I should get going…" Brianna said, looking at her phone.

"Oh come on Brianna, I got time…"

"Well yeah but-"

"YOu okay?" I tilted my head.

"Yeah… im.. okay.."

"You sure?"

"Yeah!"

"Well whatever you say…"

"I'll uh.. see you around." Brianna slowly got up from the couch.

"See ya!" I waved goodbye.

I sighed as Brianna walked away and left.

I looked down at my feet as I took another sip of my water.

"Well that went by fast." I muttered.

I heard the front door close.

I turned off the TV and sluggishly walked off to my room.

I slowly closed the door behind me and sluggishly walked over to my bed where I sat down and let out a sigh. ((Srry for the repeat of words, Google doesn't like giving me synonyms :P ~Emily))

For a moment, I felt kinda lonely.

I put my head down in extreme boredom.

I lost all motivation to do anything, I just sat there with my head down and felt as if pain were an object that was running up my back and crawling through my ear.

I let out a sigh and sniffed.

I just felt so alone.

I had nothing to do anymore.

No one to hug, no one to give kisses to, no one I could use to hid behind my fears and troubles.

No one to take me by the hand and tell me it was gonna be okay.

Which would be a lie, because throughout my whole life, I haven't seen a damn thing change.

I looked up at the ceiling with, yet again, tears streaming down my face.

I decided with nothing else to do, i'd just go to bed.

I crawled under the bedsheets and closed my eyes, trying to sleep.

A few hours passed and I was still wide-awake in bed, just sitting and reading the clock that said it was close to Dinner.

Even though I don't eat anything, I still sit at the table so I don't seem rude.

But I just covered my ears with my pillow and shut the world away.

I tried telling everyone It's not getting better.

_I told them_.

"Astro? You coming for dinner?" I heard someone call.

I ignored it and closed my eyes.

"Astro?"

"No." I muttered in a low tone to myself.

I brought my knees up to my chest and sniffed.

"Astro? Are you coming or not?"

I shook my head.

I heard footsteps and then a knock at my door.

I didn't say or do anything in response.

"Astro."

I shook my head again.

"Hmm. He must be asleep." They walked away.

"It'll be all over.." I whispered.

"...Eventually…." I looked at the door.

I was in the kitchen about an hour later getting a drink again before I sat down on the couch again like I did earlier today.

I sighed when I sat down and seemed uninterested in what was going on.

I felt helpless and didn't know what to do, I just sat there and ignored everything.

I looked over to see if anyone was sitting on the couch as well.

I turned back around and sat down slowly.

"Do you think he's ok, honey?" Cindy whispered to Tenma.

They were sitting on the couch as well, but I chose to ignore them just like everything else.

"I'm not sure. But he's probably fine."

Cindy rested her head on Tenma's shoulder as he looked over at me.

My eyes just focused on the floor or the ceiling, I didn't even bother to look back at Tenma with the smile that fixes everything.

He looked back at the TV after a few moments.

I had an urge to get up and go back to my room, but I just sat on the couch casually and now focused my attention to the TV. 

I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to envision a world I was satisfied with, the more I thought of it, the more I felt like smiling and letting out a laugh.

It just wouldn't stop and before I knew it, I could see it all.

Until, of course, my eyes opened again, and reality set in.

It was like a hit in the back I couldn't stand, like I was…

Drowning,

And I couldn't get up. ((Haha, did u readers notice the reference to da intro? ~Emily))

I put my head down.

Tears were streaming down my face.

A few moments later, I shuddered when I felt something touch me.

"Astro? Are you ok?" Cindy said softly with her hand on my shoulder.

I tried nodding, but it never worked.

She put her arms around me and gently rubbed my head as I cried into her shoulder.

But this time I noticed, I wasn't really upset.

I remember a while ago when I walked into Atom's room and I asked him what was wrong, he simply replied to me that he was ok, and that sometimes people can get upset and cry for _no reason_.

At first I never understood what he meant, but I think now i'm starting to get it.

I sniffed and cried even more.

Cindy tried comforting me.

I rubbed my eye and looked at what I saw was a blurry TV.

A few minutes later, I finally settled down and stopped crying, but my face was still wet and I swear I thought I smelled.

"I'm gonna go take a shower, okay?" I said as I sat up from the couch.

A few days went by fast and to my surprise, things went pretty well, sure I had my few moments, but those ended within the first few minutes.

I was heading out into the living room preparing to leave to go downtown for the evening.

"I'll be back in a few hours!" I said, waving goodbye.

"Bye. Be back before dinner, ok?" Cindy smiled as I walked past her.

"I will!" I said with a chuckle.

I walked out the door and walked halfway there.

It started getting chilly and I shivered.

And that's when I realized.

I left my jacket at home.

It was too far for me to walk back, so I continued on as I shivered and the temperature got lower, like it always did when it got late at night.

My teeth started to chatter and I almost saw my breath in the air.

My body couldn't take it anymore.

I was racing and running around and eventually found myself running into a Starbuck.

"Phew! " I said with relief.

"Sup, Astro?" I heard someone greet me.

"Reno? You work here?" I asked, walking up to him.

"Well not really.. um.. just a.. Summer job." Reno replied.

"Oh what, so you could talk to Kaitlyn and impress her with your skills in frozen drinks?"

"Hell no! I told you i'm not into that bitch, i'm more into uh…. this girl in my robotics class…" ((_ ~kate))

"Oh.. good for you Mr. slutpants!" I joked.

"I am not a slut! Geez man, da hell you on?!"

"Well I guess I can't complain, I just talked to my twin like two hours ago and he spent like half the time blabbing about his boyfriend. I swear, I don't understand why he wants to be a photographer, he should be a reporter or a salesman because he's sure have a lot to say!"

"Pfft… are you gonna buy anything or not, because if you're not then just sit your ass down in a chair or leave!"

"Yeah but it's cold outside."

"Then sit down!"

"I'd like a hot chocolate, with extra chocolate…"

Reno rolled his eyes.

"That'll be $3.50…"

I handed Reno my $5 bill.

Reno handed me my change and muttered a few things while preparing my drink.

"Would you like whipped cream?" he asked.

"Yes govna i'll have cream with my lovely hot chocolate." I replied back in a British accent.

"Oh the things I do to make money." I heard Reno mutter.

Reno handed me my hot chocolate.

"Be careful, it's hot."

"Pfft.. what'cha think it was gonna be, _ice cold_?" 

"No, I just have to say that to everyone, part of my job."

"Ahh I see…" I walked away and sat at a table.

I took a sip of my drink and looked out the window, catching a glimpse of the lights they put on every night.

"Dangit, i'm all out…" I said, looking at my empty cup.

"Hey uh.. Reno?" I walked up to him.

"What is it this time?" Reno looked annoyed at me.

"Do you suppose I could get a refill?" I asked.

"We don't give refills on hot chocolate, and if you drink anymore you're gonna piss your pants all over the floor, and everyone here's gonna be going 'slip n' slide' with your urine…" Reno folded his arms.

"Ew." I took a step back with a squeamish face.

"See what I mean?"

"Ugh fine, I won't drink anymore, but i'm just so cold!"

"Then why didn't you bring a jacket?"

"I left it at home doofus!"

"Oh. I see… sucks to be you…"

"Then how are _you_ so warm?"

"Do you see what I'm wearing?"

"Oh."

Reno rolled his eyes.

I walked away and sat back down at a table.

I sat there and just scrolled through stuff on my phone until I had to leave.

I said my goodbyes and quickly headed on my way home.

"Oh gawd! I-it's s-so cold o-outside!" I said shivering as I walked inside the house.

"S-sorry f-for not getting you anything on my w-way b-back." I continued to shiver.

"Astro? You're freezing! Why don't you have a jacket?" Cindy walked up to me and felt my cheek.

"I forgot it." I replied.

"Come over to the couch and warm up with the blanket. I'll get you something nice and warm to drink."

I nodded and made my way to the couch.

I lied down and curled up into a ball as I shivered more.

Cindy came back with a cup of steaming tea.

"I know you don't like tea but we're out of hot chocolate." She sat next to me on the couch.

"Ehh, that's okay.. I think I can take it." I said, grabbing the tea from Cindy.

She smiled as she got up from the couch.

"Don't forget your jacket next time." She gave me a kiss on the forehead as she walked away.

"I won't" I said as my cheeks turned pink.

I took a sip of my tea and engulfed myself in the blanket.

"Hmm…" I looked for the TV remote.

I put the tea down and grabbed the TV remote so I could turn on the TV.

I pressed the power button on the remote and the TV turned on.

I couldn't hear what was playing so I turned up the volume.

I heard my name being said and I instantly turned around.

"Hmm? Whatever." I shrugged and turned back around.

"Woah! D-don't tell me!"

I quickly tried grabbing for the remote so I could change the channel.

"_But we never knew our beloved hero acted much like teens today." _

"_He does it all, from TubeYou-ing, Picstagram and even an Art Tumblr's blog, seems like the robot is more human after all."_

"Ah! gotta change the channel!"

"_But what he's probably more known for today is for being a TubeYouer, Going by the name 'TheBandFan' Astro has talked about many topics in a funny, honest way, and I know that because my daughter watches them and obsess over them like crazy!"_

"Where the hell is that remote?!"

Tenma walked into the living room.

"Whatcha watching?" He walked up to me.

"Ahh…" I blushed.

_"He's also known for doing many collaborations with many of his friends and family, and is also the first TubeYouer to admit they draw their own thumbnails!" _

_"And you couldn't be able to watch his videos without laughing at the creative humor that makes Astro a super unique TubeYouer!" _

I gave up and just covered my face with my blanket.

_"And he's also gained a lot of fame I assume, right?" _

"_Well no matter what, hero or not, we sure won't be forgetting Astro and the entertainment he has left us, we'll be back after the commercial break!" _

"Please kill me from all this embarrassment!" my voice sounded muffled under the blanket.

"what's there to be embarrassed about?" Tenma chuckled

"Ahh, you don't get it, you've never been famous before, at least not the type of famous _I _am…"

"What do you mean I wasn't famous? Being the minister of the Ministry of Science is a pretty well known position."

"Well yeah, but you're not the type of famous I am. You're just famous because you got a high position. But _i'm_ famous because I'm a celeb on the internet, two totally different things!" 

"I just hate it when people talk about me on celeb shows, it- it embarrasses me!" I blushed deeper. ((lol poor Astro… ~Emily))

"If it helps, I think it's pretty cool how you're on TV like that." Tenma sat next to me.

"Really?" I took the blanket off to expose my head.

"Yeah." He smirked.

"Hehe… thanks…"I laughed nervously.

"No problem."

I tossed around and laid on my back, I stopped shivering. ((lol dis was sorta based on an even cuter idea, but it won't work cuz Astro isn't a dog xD ~Emily))

I giggled to myself.

"Hmm… what's that word you been telling me again?" I asked.

"A word?"

"Yeah, that word.. you know uh.. what's it called.. it uh… starts with an 'H' I think?"

"Happy?"

I laughed.

"Oh yeah, happy!" I said, hugging myself.

Tenma chuckled.

I laid there and spent the rest of the night watching TV

"Mmm.. you know what time it is?" I asked, rubbing an eye.

"I think it's uh.. around ten, sorta…"

"Ahh I think I forgot to take a shower…"

"Or- Or did I take one before I left?" I rubbed my eye again and tried to stay awake.

"You already took one."

"Oh! Okay…"

"But this is weird, i'm almost never tired at night…" I yawned.

"Must be this tea." He looked in the nearly empty mug that was sitting on the table.

"Hmm? Tea? What's that gotta do with an-anything?"

"Some teas are very soothing and put you to sleep." He chuckled.

"Oh! Reminds me of when I went to the hospital- I don't remember why, but the doc tried to put me to sleep, but it never worked…."

"I think he either gave me tea or he uh.. no I think he gave me tea because I'm afraid of sharp objects…" ((OMG ASTRO, SAME! ~Emily))

"You think I should go to bed?" I asked.

"If you want to."

"Okay…" I rubbed my eye again for a second.

I got up from the couch and dragged the blanket behind me.

"Night!" I said.

"Goodnight."

I slowly walked to my room and went to bed.

"Can you believe this?! School starts in what, 4-5 days?!" I complained when I walked and sat down at the table.

"Ugh! I hate school, People are always telling me to be grateful I got to be in the high school program at my school since not many people get in, but that program gives me a headache. At least now I get to take Biology, my favorite science field of study!"

"But Geometry is gonna kill me.." I folded my arms.

"Why did you make me so smart?" I looked at Tenma.

"I dunno." He shrugged, his voice muffled by the donut in his mouth.

"Well now because of you i'm taking high school classes, you think I wanna take those classes, _now_? No!"

"But I had to enroll in the program because my advanced teachers said I was too smart for those classes, haha!" I laughed.

"Oh Well, at least I have Brianna, I think she's in the program with me too.."

"Yeah. At least you have a friend in your class."

"Yeah but the class is so annoying, I have like _the_ laziest, stupidest, meenie heads this world could _possibly _offer!"

"I'm sure there's a way to get out of that class if it's really giving you problems."

"But I can't go back, i'm too smart for advanced classes, and too annoyed by high school classes.."

"Well, just see how it is for the first few days. It might not be as bad as you think."

"Meh. I guess you have a point, I haven't even met them yet and i'm annoyed…"

"And I don't even know what the hell i'm gonna wear, if I go to school in my everyday clothes people will think i'm showing up to a funeral."

"I'm sure no one's really going to care about what you're wearing."

"Pfft I hope so, I've wasted all my money on buying this stuff!"

"Speaking of buying, I need new suspenders, the numbers on these are fading, oh well…."

"Maybe i'll go the next time I have money." I put my head down.

"You could always start earning an allowance."

"I did at the old man Grandpa Sanders house, but I don't live there anymore, so I don't get an allowance anymore, and now i'm poor again, between school shopping, anniversaries, and so much other stuff, i'm poor…"

"I mean… you can earn allowance _here_."

"Oh."

"And if I refuse?" I joked.

"No money. No suspenders."

"Pfft… I can draw on them… hey, why didn't I think of that earlier?"

Tenma chuckled and rolled his eyes

"Hmmm nothing like a little D.I.Y. to start of the morning!" I chuckled.

"Ehh.. i'm hungry but I can't eat anything…" I complained.

"Drink some water."

"What's water gonna do, all water does is make me pee…" ((TMI Astro… TMI ~Emily))

Tenma sighed.

"Well stop complaining then."

I heard a strange noise.

"Pfft.. stupid stomach.." I got up and walked to the bathroom.

I came back a few moments later.

"I wouldn't use the bathroom if I were you, unless you plan on carrying some air freshener with you, phew!"

Cindy was standing in the kitchen and she gave me a blank look.

I sat back down at the table.

"So what's the game plan for today? Today is in fact Thursday, so i'm gone in like 9 hours…" I asked.

"I'm not sure. What do you want to do?" Tenma looked at me.

"I dunno.. I was hoping you knew…" I shrugged.

"Well there are a few things we could do."

"Like?"

"Bowling?"

"Hmmm.. but aren't you a little too old for bowling?" I joked.

"You're _never_ too old for bowling!" Cindy remarked.

"Yeah you can be too old for bowling…. I remember something, but i forgot most of it, but it's the funniest story!" I started laughing.

"It's an old story Reno told me a while back…"

They both gave me a blank look.

"Haha" I laughed again.

"I guess I better go get ready then…" I got up from the table and walked to my room.

I came back an hour later ready to go.

"I'm ready!" I said, walking out of the hallway.

"Let's get going, then." Tenma got up from the couch.

"Oh wait, give me a sec." I said before burping.

"Geez, maybe I should hold off on the Red Bulls…"

"Ew. Astro, mind your manners." Cindy walked out of the kitchen.

"Whoops."

I walked out with Tenma to the car.

"I don't think I should answer this." I said in the car, looking at my phone.

"What is it?"

"My twin is calling me, but i'm not answering it because he spends like four hours on the phone, and half of that time he just blabs on about him and his stupid boyfriend! It was cute at first, but now it's just _so_ annoying!"

"Bleh, he can call tomorrow…" I put my phone down.

We continued on our way to the bowling alley, I looked out the window for no reason and looked out at the places we were passing by.

We got out after Tenma parked the car.

"Geez, that was quite a long ride." I said.

"Yeah it was." Tenma stretched.

"I wonder why all the _real_ stuff in Metro City is so far away, like where we live is nothing… it isn't until you go further to see the _actual _Metro City…"

"Well, that's just how it is."

"Hmmm I guess it's okay, you don't hear a lot of noises, must really suck for those New Yorkers…":

"Haha. I guess so."

"Ugh, school just came back in my mind…." I complained.

"I look like vomit made out with a gorilla and made me, because I look terrible, I stink, I don't know what i'm gonna wear! Ugh…"

"You don't look terrible."

"Yeah, I look _and_ smell terrible…"

"No you don't."

"Pfft…whatever you say…"

"Trust me, I would never build a robot that would end up looking like some ugly, smelly freak."

"But what if i'm not a robot, and i'm an alien from planet French Fries?"

Tenma facepalmed.

"You're not an alien…."

"I know, but you never know…"

"I think I'd know."

"Okay fine….."

"But you should still consider it."

He chuckled.

We walked into the bowling alley.

"Gee, you'd think on a Thursday everyone would be gone at work or at home… but I guess not."

"Well, it is still summer break."

"Yeah but don't the adults have work?"

Tenma shrugged.

"Speaking of work, gonna need to exercise before I go back to school, because books are not light, especially stacked on top of one another and carried across the biggest school library you will ever see!" 

"It tires me…" I sighed. 

"So what we gonna do?"

"We're going to go buy a lane and get our shoes."

"Interesting…." I said, slowly nodding my head.

Tenma walked up to the counter where they had the shoes and handed a worker his credit card. 

"Ahhh credit cards… cash is so much better, because if credit cards took over the saying 'making it rain' would no longer exist, and that would suck…"

"Here." Tenma handed me a pair of bowling shoes.

"I hope these are comfortable…"

"Nope." He smiled.

"Pfft… fine, I guess I can put up with it for an hour."

We walked over to a lane.

"Ahhh.. been so long since i've been here…"

"Oh really?" Tenma picked up a bowling ball and examined it.

"Yeah, I never went when I came back from the Underground City." hi

"I think the last time I went was maybe a year ago from today? I'm not sure, my memory stinks…"

"I came here about… 6 months ago with Cindy."

"Pfft… seems like _all_ the couples here go bowling, but I will say me and Brianna enjoy the movies or going to Starbuck a lot better." 

"Me and Cindy like that too."

"Sure…"

"What do you mean 'sure'? Aren't we allowed to do stuff?"

"Yeah, I guess… i'm just not into adult love... "

"Pffft. Whatever." Tenma walked over to the small screen that was on the table and put in our names.

I sat there and looked around. 

Tenma took his bowling ball

I looked down at my phone and scrolled through my photos while Tenma took his turn.

"I'm surprised no one has noticed me yet…." I muttered.

"Ok you're up." Tenma sat down across from me.

"Oh!" I looked up.

I put my phone in my pocket and went up for my turn.

After we both took turns for a little bit, it was nearing the end of the game.

"Ok. So it looks like you're winning." Tenma got up to go.

"Pfft. I always win, that's why I don't come here much since i'm too good at it…" 

Tenma managed to score a strike, which put us at a tie.

This time I was scrolling through my messages and laughing.

"Astro. Come on, go, it's almost the last round."

"GAH?! W-what?" I looked startled.

"oh… okay…" I slowly got up to take my turn in a civilized manner.

I got a spare.

"Eh." I shrugged, walking back to seat where I scrolled through more messages on my phone.

"Not bad." Tenma got up to go once again.

I laughed.

"Oh my god, I remember this!" I laughed again.

Tenma ended with a score of 170.

"Alright. Last round now."

"Huh?" I looked up.

"Go." He motioned me to get up and play my turn.

"Oh alright.." I got up to go take my turn.

I got 168 at my final score.

I slowly walked back to my seat.

"Looks like the winner is…. me? Oh well you still did good, bud."

"What?" I looked at him.

"You… didn't win…." He gave me a confused look.

"Oh." I looked back at my phone.

"Haha I remember tha…" I looked over at Tenma.

"So what are we gonna do now?" I asked, trying to be nice and not seem uninterested. 

"Well, It's getting kinda late."

"Oh yeah, I need to get going…"

"I can drive you there." Tenma looked down at his watch.

"I dunno, I always walk, but if you insist…"

"Well, It's not far from here."

"Yeah, I guess you could just drop me off, I don't mind…"

"Ok. Let's go, then."

I got up from my chair.

An hour later I was on my way home again, I guess you could say I wasn't in much of a great mood.

I stopped and sighed as I waited for the cars to pass so I could cross the street.

Finally when it was my chance to go, I quickened my pace and quickly crossed the street to head home.

I unlocked the door and walked inside the house, I walked somewhat normal, but in a sad tone into my room.

"I guess therapy didn't go too well..." Cindy looked at Tenma who was sitting next to her on the couch.

He nodded.

"Hmmm. I wonder what happened."

I closed the door and couldn't help but let all the thoughts and wonders, all the possibilities clutter my head.

My head started to hurt.

I sat down in the corner of my room and tried to de-clutter what I was thinking.

I gave up and let out another sigh.

Nothing at that moment seemed to make sense.8

My head still hurt and I just sat there and let it happen.

It was nice of him to point out how careless I am, even nicer to see it happen at this moment.

"My…. head hurts." I mumbled, putting my head down.

"You think you should go in there and see if he's ok?" Cindy asked Tenma.

Tenma sighed.

"I just wish I could fix it so he didn't have to deal with all of this."

"You know you can't sweetie. What he needs right now is some moral support."

He smiled as he got up from the couch.

I heard a knock at my door.

My mind was too cluttered to respond, I just nodded my head and sighed.

The door opened and Tenma walked in.

He looked over at me and sat down on the ground next to where I was siting.

I couldn't even look up at him.

He put his arm around my shoulders.

I tried to de-clutter my thoughts again, but failed.

I still sat there, but this time it was becoming a little too much.

My head hurt too much and I felt like crying.

I sniffed as tears streamed down my face.

I could finally lift my head up again, I moved a little and laid my head on Tenma's shoulder as more tears streamed down my face and I felt a pounding in my head.

He put his other arm around me and slowly rubbed the back of my head.

I sniffed.

With my eyes still closed and the tears that escaped from them, I assumed maybe if I went to sleep, everything would just go away.

"My…. head hurts." I mumbled again.

"It's ok. Just calm down." Tenma whispered.

I nodded with another sigh.

Ideas and thoughts were still buzzing through my head and cluttering it up, It was like a never ending amount of trash was being thrown on me.

It wouldn't stop.

With my eyes wide-open, I looked around.

It was like a nightmare that wouldn't end, I tried to get up but it was like a weight was pulling me down forcefully.

Then with a sudden gasp, my eyes closed and i fell on my face.

I slowly woke up to find myself in my bed, covered lightly by the top sheet.

"What time is it….?" I yawned.

I looked over at my alarm clock.

It read 12:17.

"M-midnight? How the hell did that happen?" I said, stretching.

"Oh well.. might as well go get a drink or something…"

I got up out of my bed as the bright light of the near full moon illuminated my back. 

I walked over to my bedroom door and slowly walked out into the hallway.

The door to Cindy and Tenma's room was slightly open.

I looked over inside to see Cindy sleeping, but Tenma was nowhere to be seen in the room.

I shrugged and continued on my way to the kitchen.

"I'm hoping no one will notice me." I said, acting all "ninja like" as I made it to the fridge.

I made it to the fridge and open the door, it made a creaking noise.

"Dang these 2030 fridges!" I complained in a whispering voice.

I reached over for a small carton of apple juice and closed the door.

I looked over behind me and saw Tenma on the couch.

"Pfft…at least I know where I got my couch sleeping habits from." I whispered, folding my arms.

I tiptoed over to him to see a half-empty mug of what looked like coffee sitting on the end table next to Tenma. I could feel heat still coming off of it.

I sat down and took my final sips of the apple juice.

I put the carton down.

"Bloop." I poked Tenma's shoulder.

"Ahh!"

"Whoops." I whispered with a nervous look on my face.

"Oh. Astro. It's just you…." Tenma sighed with relief.

"Yes, It is me, kind citizen."

"Phew. So are you ok now?"

"Huh?"

"Last night. You kinda freaked out a bit."

"Oh. Yeah." I looked down.

"Well looks like you're good now. You really gave me a scare there."

"Oh, I did?"

"Yeah. I…. stayed up as long as I could in case something else would happen…. but I guess I fell asleep anyway."

"Oh."

"Well I guess I might as well stay here, I'm too awake to go back to sleep, if that even makes sense." I shrugged.

"I'm too awake now too." Tenma picked up his mug and took a sip.

"So uh.. nice weather we're having isn't it?"

"Haha. Yeah."

**"It's kinda dark here, but i'm not scared, I enjoy the dark!"**

**"The moon is awfully bright tonight, though."**

**"Really? I never noticed." **

"**Yeah. You can see it through the curtains."**

**I got up and looked behind me. **

"**Oh yeah, I see it." I whispered as I looked into the sky.**

**"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Tenma turned around and looked at it with me.**

**I tilted my head in confusion.**

**"The moon." He looked over at me.**

**"I guess." I shrugged.**

**"You'll see it eventually, Astro." **

"Hmm… whatever." I turned back around.

Tenma turned to me.

"So what happened yesterday that got you so upset?"

"Stress." I yawned.

"The bald guy?"

"Sorta, well mostly the bald guy, but i'm always stressed, he just happen to add on to it."

"He called me careless and spent like five minutes going through a list of bull crap… I'm surprised I haven't thrown myself in a ditch yet." I sighed and scooted away from Tenma.

"Careless? You aren't careless."

"Well that's what he said… he went on to say other things but I a little too chicken to say them."

"I feel like I should make a deal with a 'certain person' to get you out of having to see him. This therapist doesn't seem like he's doing you any good."

"You can try…"

"But i'm sure he'll just lecture you the same way he lectures me. Trust me, you're not the first to wanna get me out of seeing him…"

Tenma turned forward again and leaned his head back on the couch.

"But if you insist." I shrugged.

"I guess it's worth a try."

"Well then, you have till Tuesday, when I see him again."

I looked over at Tenma.

He was sleeping again.

I scooted closer to him.

"You know…" I began.

"I could never ask for a father as great as you." I smiled.

He opened one of his eyes and smiled as he peeked over at me for a moment.

"I love you." I mouthed.

I sighed as my eyes became a little heavy as I became a little tired.

I leaned over and rested my head on Tenma's shoulder as I slowly fell asleep.

Friday, I walked over to the table, sat down and looked down at the ground.

"Do you know if we still have any of the energy drinks left, since i'm not eating breakfast." I asked.

"Mmmmmm. Here!" Cindy tossed me one after she found it.

"Yes! This'll do.." I said as I opened the can and took a sip.

"They say you shouldn't drink these on an empty stomach, but i'm sure since I don't eat and i'm a robot anyways, shouldn't do any damage, right?" I looked at Tenma.

"I don't think it'll hurt you."

"Ugh, I need to visit Grandpa Sanders today so he can give me my list…" I sighed before taking another sip.

"What list?"

"Oh! it's just of list of foods I can and can't eat."

"Oh. Ok."

"Eh. I think i'll go later, maybe after dinner, i'm sure by then everyone is home and the professor won't put up much of a fight…"

"Hmm. Well if he starts saying more than 3 sentences at a time, then just leave."

"I'll take note of that…"

"But I really need that list, I think I have to give it to the office on Monday, then I need to memorize it in case of an emergency, and _then_ um… ugh, It gives me stress."

"Have you even figured out how to fix my problem because that list is two pages, front and back, long… I can' even remember the pledge!"

"Almost. I just have to run a few tests before I'm sure."

"Pfft.. then I guess it's memorizing for me."

"I may be able to do it a few weeks from now."

"Well you never know… but one time I ate a piece of ham… and…. yeah… so I guess it's not 100% accurate."

"Not that you would care anyways... "

Tenma blinked.

"Yeah… my stories must be boring… how about we talk about sports, I hate sports, but I assume that's what father-son conversations are about…"

"I don't like sports either…. but we can talk about them if you want…."

"Okay.. um… what about baseball? Oh wait! what about golf?"

"Maaaaybe we shouldn't talk about sports… ever…."

"I'll make a note of that…" I chuckled.

Tenma chuckled back.

"Then what else do we talk about? The fake crap in celebrity magazines? Photoshop fails? Memes? Social media?!"

"Or maybe.. TV shows?"

"Food? Mmm.. food…"

"Dang it, now i'm hungry." I pouted. 

I headed on my way to the professor's to go get my list. the clouds were getting heavy, this time I remembered to bring my jacket so I wasn't cold.

I knocked on the door, the professor came out.

"I see you've returned!" Elefun greeted.

"I'm just here for my list." I muttered to him.

"Ah yes, your list! I think you'll be quite surprised, but this list may not be so accurate since I don't have recent samples to test from you, but I did my best…"

I walked inside.

"Hey Astro!" Atom waved to me from the couch.

"Ooh, whatcha' watching?" I asked.

"Come along Astro." Elefun motioned me to the basement.

"Coming." I walked away and went down to the basement where the lab was.

"Here you go." The professor handed me two pages of paper.

"Remember to make a copy and give it to the office, you hear me?"

"Yeah, I know." I walked away.

"Astro!"

I turned around.

"You can always come back?"

I rolled my eyes and walked back upstairs.

I headed on my way back home with the list in my hand.

"You guys have a copying machine?" I asked when I walked inside the house once I got home.

"Yeah, we do."

"Can it copy two sided papers?"

"I think so."

"Can you copy this?" I handed them my list.

"Oh. Sure." Cindy smiled at me.

"I know, it's a super long list, but you gotta include as many foods as possible don't want umm, _something_ to happen…"

"Hmmm. Ok." She nodded, looking through the list.

"I can't believe he took crackers off the list of foods I can eat, I love crackers!" I complained as I walked to my room, since I had to prepare for my new final vlog before school starts.

"Haha, time to see what people want me to talk about today!" I exclaimed, turning on my laptop.

I got up from my chair and went to go set up my camera.

I scrolled through comments on my phone, looking at all the suggested topics.

"Ooh! I got this!" I put my phone down.

"Okay, i'm ready for this!" I stretched my arms.

I walked up to my camera and hit "RECORD".

"What's up lazy people of the internet!"

"That includes me too, so you're not alone… at least I hope not."

"And today's video is about things people ask me."

"Because you people just love to ask me about ish!"

"So one thing people ask me is.. um... "

"What kind of music do you listen to.."

"And so I say"

"Well I listen to bands, which consist of but not limited to."

"All Time Low, Panic! at the Disco, Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Falling in Reverse, Black Veil Brides, Pierce the Veil, um… Sleeping With Sirens, 30 Seconds to Mars, Green Day, We the kings, The All-American Rejects, Arctic Monkeys just to name a few.."

"Hmm.. I listen to EDM."

"Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Kaskade, David Guetta, um… Deadmau5, and I think that's it."

"So yeah, that's pretty much what I listen to…"

"Another thing people ask me is…"

"What's your favorite band?"

"Well, I used to say All Time Low, but now it's a tie between them and Panic! at the Disco dude, like, legit… it's a battle man…"

"Favorite color?"

"Red, or black."

"What do I think I look like?"

"Hmm.. well I never thought of that, hmm… I dunno what I look like besides an Astro…"

"Taken?"

"Yeah, sorry to ruin your dreams there…"

"Favorite movie?"

"Hmm… favorite movie…."

"I don't have one, but i'm sure Brianna, my _girlfriend_ has one because she's a big fan of movies, baking, and devoting herself to me… yeah… my life behind closed doors explained in one sentence, _if _ you know what I mean?"

"I'm hoping no one heard that…"

"All I need before schools starts in like two days is to be known as the slut of the year, trust me, at first it sounds kinda badass, but it really stinks…"

"Favorite song."

"No. just. no."

"I don't have one…"

"Paper or plastic?"

"Neither."

"Person I call or text a lot."

"My girlfriend."

"Hmm.. what else have people asked me."

"I think that's it."

"Oh well, time for me to talk about something else!"

"School."

"School is the reason I look like vomit had sex with a gorilla and gave birth to me, legit dude, because everyone else coming in with fancy, cute stuff they bought from this expensive store that only people like the president can shop at because he's 'so rich' "

"And here I am coming in with the same band merch I've had for like a year, and suspenders I drew on because the numbers are fading."

"Yes, because I wear rulers as suspenders, well not literally, but.. as you can see, my suspenders look like rulers, why? Because they do."

"So while everyones looking perfect and flawless, i'm gonna look like Yogi the bear…"'

"Thank you life. And thanks for karma too, I love you both!"

"But you know what that's okay. Because when they're the people I order my food from at McDonald'z Who's gonna be laughing now, bitch!"

"Certainly not you, that's obvious…" 

"Ahh, am I going over my time limit?"

"Well that's a wrap people, if you didn't like this video, give it a thumbs up and if you like this video, thumbs up and comment that ish like cray cray! Add meh on Picstagram at um… I put it in the description cuz I too lazy to say it."

"Meh."

"BAND FAN, OUT!"

I stopped recording. 

Saturday in the afternoon I saw Tenma gather a few things as if he was getting ready to leave.

"Where you going?" I asked.

"Nowhere important."

"oh really?" i smirked.

"Mmmhmm."

"Seems fishy, when i figure it out imma tell the world!"

"Haha. Sure." Tenma chuckled.

"Yeah im sure, going to use my 35,798 Picastagram followers to my advantage!"

"Do as you wish." He walked towards the door.

I crept up behind him till he made it to the door and then went over to the couch and watched him leave.

"Hmmm... he's going in the direction of Grandpa Sanders house, lord bless his soul..." i walked away and went to get a drink.

"Professor, I think someone's coming?" Atom said coming out of the hallway and into the kitchen.

"Hmmm?" Elefun looked at Atom.

"I wonder if it's Stephen, i'll go see.." Atom walked outside.

"Oh, hello Atom!" Tenma said as he parked and got out of his car.

"wait a minute, you're not Stephen?" Atom tilted his head.

"Yes, I believe I am not Stephen."

"well hi anyways, Tenma!" Atom smiled.

"Hello." Tenma smiled.

"And is Dr. Elefun home?"

"Yeah, he's here I just talked to him inside."

"Ok. Good." Tenma walked towards the front door.

"You seem a little in a hurry, but sometimes I think everyone's in a hurry, or maybe i'm just too slow..." Atom shrugged.

"Well, I just want to get something done and over with, that's all."

"Ahh I see, reminds me of Astro when I see him do his homework." Atom chuckled and opened the door for Tenma.

"Thank you." Tenma walked through the door.

"Oh, i'm just using my manners to advantage." Atom walked behind Tenma.

"Dr. Elefun!" Tenma called out.

"You have a visitor!"

"Tenma, the hell brings you here?!" Elefun called back.

"I just wanted to say hi." Tenma smirked.

"Ha! like you'd really drive your lazy butt over here just to say hi?"

"Hey! I'm not that lazy."

"Suuure" Elefun took a sip of his tea.

"Pft. You never change do you?" Tenma walked into the living room and leaned against the wall. 

"Not really." 

"Yeah. You don't."

"Well, spit it out, I know you're here for something." Elefun looked at Tenma.

"I'd appreciate it if you cancelled Astro's trips to that therapist you have him going to."

"Wha? that man is the best there is! hes a bright, fine fella, i even had tea with him once, Astro should be taking advantage, but I assume hes not."

"That man is draining him. He's mentally and emotionally exhausting my son!" Tenma took a step towards Elefun.

"That is not my fault Tenma!"

"I don't want Astro seeing that therapist anymore. I'll pay the cancellation fees if I must."

"If you wish, but if he gets too much for you, dont say i wasn't right!"

"Astro's been very well behaved, thank you. I don't restrict his every move like a certain person did."

"Oh really. You're gonna go there?" Elefun raised his eyebrows.

"Yes. I'm going there."

"Well then, Atom, Why don't you go see what Uran is doing?"

Atom shrugged and went upstairs.

Tenma turned around and headed for the door.

"Drive safe!" Elefun yelled.

"Yeah…. just send me that bill, k?

Elefun took a sip of his tea and didn't respond.

The door made a click as Tenma walked out of the house and to his car.

"To think I actually respected that man once in my life. That selfish son of a bitch." He mumbled to himself as he drove away. 

"At least I got what I came for."

"So, what went down, did the devil spare your soul?" I asked when Tenma walked in.

"Haha. Yes."

"Good."

"So are you gonna tell me where it went, or at least what happened?"

"Well, it went a lot faster than I thought it would. To sum it up, I got you out of therapy." 

"No. Really?" I sounded shocked.

"Yeah. Really." He grinned.

"Ah.. oh…" I took a slow step back.

"I-I don't even know what to say, how do I respond?"

"You did want to get out of it, didn't you?"

I nodded.

"Then how about a 'thanks'?" He gave me a silly looking smirk.

I put my hands in my pockets.

"Thanks." I said in a ghetto tone.

"Haha. Your welcome." Tenma walked past me and ruffled my hair.

I chuckled.

"So what's the game plan for tomorrow, i'm thinking of getting everything ready today so I can make most of the last day of Summer tomorrow…"

"Oh. I was thinking of just… sitting around…." He shrugged.

"Good. I like sitting around, I also like eating crackers, but I can't eat those anymore… and I also like watching movies, but only with Brianna because well.. I dunno, I just do… and I like hiding in the laundry room…"

"I think i've officially befriended your washing machine."

"Hmm… Well… That's… nice?" Tenma reached into the refrigerator and grabbed a carton of apple juice.

"Apple. Juice." I stared at the carton Tenma was holding.

"Why the hell are you drinking apple juice for?"

"Not that i'd care much since I uh…. _obviously_ don't drink it especially if it's in a miniature carton…"

"Elefun really knows how to give someone a headache… and these are surprisingly relaxing…. I know these are for little kids… but… I have one hell of a headache."

I gave him a blank face.

"What?" He looked at me.

"Ahh you wouldn't understand…"

"Ok….?" He walked into the living room.

"I hope that's not the last carton…" I whispered to myself.

I looked in the fridge and saw a few more cartons left.

"Phew."

"Mine." I quickly grabbed a carton and left to my room.

I walked into my room and closed the door behind me.

I slurped on the apple juice as I got out my sketchbook.

"Hmm.." I pulled out my pencil.

I looked up at the ceiling, tapping my fingers on my bed.

"I got it!" I looked back down at my sketchbook and went on my way to draw something.

I was almost done about an hour later, it was getting close to dinner.

"Did I finish my thumbnail?" I asked out loud, looking up from my sketchbook.

I got off my bed and went to go check my laptop.

"Yep, Phew! I finished it!" I closed my laptop and walked back over to my bed where I grabbed my sketchbook so I could finish sketching my drawing.

"Hehe… this is too funny!" I chuckled as I looked at my sketched drawing.

"Haha! This is why I love drawing chibis!" I closed my sketchbook.

"Hmm.. I wonder if dinner is ready?" I got out of bed and walked out of my room, into the hallway.

I heard Cindy and Tenma talking in the kitchen.

I casually walked over to the table and sat down with a big grin on my face.

"Hey, Astro." Cindy smiled.

I put my head down and giggled.

"Well, someone looks happy!" She chuckled.

"Can I have bread, It's on my can eat list?" I asked.

"Sure." Tenma grabbed a piece of bread and handed it to me.

"I'll have your problem fixed soon."

"Good." I took a small piece of the bread and ate it.

Suddenly my stomach felt funny.

"Eh. I'll be back.." I left the table and went to the bathroom.

I came back a few minutes later and slowly sat back down at the table. 

"You ok?" Cindy looked at me.

"Eh." I shrugged.

"I don't think I should have the rest of the bread." I said before putting my head down. 

"Yeah. Just take it easy." Tenma took the bread away.

One night I was coming home a little late because I got carried away at a friends house, when I walked in the house it seem awfully quiet.

"Hmm.. they must be in their bedroom." I walked into the hallway.

"Tenma? Cindy?" i called out.

No response.

"Dad?"

"Mom?"

No response.

I knocked on their bedroom door.

"Hello?" I called.

No one responded.

I opened the door slowly.

"You guys in here?" I asked.

I looked down to see the two of them on the ground motionless.

"What?" I knelt down near them.

I grabbed Cindy's arm and lifted it up, I let it go and it dropped down to the ground.

"No. no… NO!" I got up and walked backwards.

I put my hand over my mouth and finally noticed the devastation going on.

"No." I shook my head as tears came out of my eyes.

"No!" I let out a painful scream and collapsed.

"It's- it's all my fault." I cried.

"No." I whispered.

"NOOO!" I yelled.

With a sudden gasp I woke up.

"No…" I covered my face with my hands and sobbed, shaking my head. 

"N-No!" I cried louder.

"Astro?" I heard someone walk in.

I shook my head as I sobbed even more.

"Astro?! What's wrong?" They walked up to my bed and sat on the edge.

I looked up at them and my eyes widened.

"M-mom! Y-you're okay!" I exclaimed with a smile.

"Oh. You must've had a nightmare." Cindy wiped the tears off of my cheeks.

I smiled as I sat up and hugged her tightly.

"You're okay." I whispered. 

She gently rubbed the back of my head. 

I was finally at ease and could fall back asleep again.

Sunday morning I walked into the hallway again and sat back at the same table I sat in every morning.

"Morning! Guess what day it is?" I asked as I sat down.

"Sunday." Tenma looked at me.

I gave him a blank face.

"You honestly need to upgrade your IQ…" I said to him.

"Pft." He stuck his tongue out.

"Well it's true…. you're always getting the stupidest questions wrong. Cindy, what day is it today?" I turned around and looked at her.

"Sunday!" She smiled.

"Pfft. You too! Ugh!" I put my head down in frustration.

"Fine, you know what… I'm gonna find someone that knows what today is, and you know who i'm gonna start with, Brianna!"

I pulled out my phone.

"Okay, hold up, gimme a sec… then I can prove you both wrong…" I said, looking through my contact list.

"Ah-ha!" I exclaimed, tapping on the screen.

I waited for Brianna to pick up the phone.

"_Hmm… Astro?"_

"Brianna!" I chuckled.

"_Oh hey, what's up?"_

"Do you know what today is?"

"_Yeah, today's I think Sunday, no?" _

"What?! You too!"

"_Well what did you want me to tell you?"_

"Yeah, but it's not just _any_ Sunday!"

"_Oh yeah, today i'm going over to Becky's, is that special?" _

"No! I mean, yes Brianna, that's fine."

I looked at Tenma.

"This may be a while." I mouthed.

"Oh. Well, we don't have time to fool around. We have to go food shopping in an hour..." Tenma looked at me.

_"Huh? Who are you talking to?" _

"Uh.. no one- I mean, my dad!"

"_Ooooohhhh! i get it now!"_

"Finally!"

"_Tomorrow is Monday!" _

"UGh!"

"Brianna, be serious, what's tomorrow?"

_"Okay okay, i'll be serious this time, promise!"_

"Thank you."

"_Tomorrow is Monday!" _

"_And it's also the first day of school."_

"Which makes today…."

"_The last day of Summer?" _

"Finally!" I exclaimed.

"_Oh I get it, adults these days… they just don't understand the struggle…"  
_  
"Astro… Go get ready..." Tenma whispered to me and tilted his head in the direction of the door. 

"Wha?"

"Pftt. fine, I'll go get ready." I carried my phone with me to my room.

"So what's up with you?" I put Brianna off of speakerphone and talked to her on my way to my room.

I came back an hour later out of room.

"Ok. You're ready. Let's go." Tenma got up off the couch.

"Oh yeah, I gotta go Brianna, you should go get ready."

"Yes I know- yes, yes Brianna, Hear ya loud and clear." I said, nodding my head.

"Okay, you hang up…."

"Come on Bri, be a sport."

"No? Fine, you want me to hang up. No- your gonna hang up okay, hang up."

"Brianna?"

"Pftt." I put my phone in my pocket.

"We ready?" I asked.

"We've _been_ ready." Cindy smirked.

"Oh."

The three of us got in the car.

Tenma drove off.

"So what we getting at the store?" I asked. 

"Groceries."

"What _kind _of groceries?"

Tenma glanced over at Cindy for a second as she looked at him.

"You didn't make a list?" He whispered.

"I didn't think about that…." She whispered back.

"I left this part up to you… just this part…."

"I'm sorry. I didn't think it out all the way… I panicked a bit. And you know how I am when I panic…."

I tilted my head.

"Adults…" I whispered, I pulled out my phone and spent the rest of the car ride listening to music.

"We're here, Astro."

"Huh?" I pulled an earphone out of my ear.

"We're here."

"Oh, okay." I unclicked my seatbelt and got out of the car.

"Gee, I think my legs fell asleep!" I said, stretching.

"Wait a second, this isn't the supermarket, you lied!"

"But look at where we are."

"Hold on." I put a GPS on my phone.

"Says here we're at.. um… some place called Ocean Universe, whatever the hell that is…"

"Come on. You'll like it." Cindy rolled her eyes as she chuckled.

"I can give it a try?"

We walked up to the entrance.

Tenma walked up and got us our tickets.

"So what are we doing first?" I asked, looking down at my phone.

"What do you want to do?"

"I dunno…" I shrugged. 

"Take a look at this." Tenma handed me a map of the place.

"Huh?" I sounded clueless on what was going on as Tenma handed me the map. 

"We can go to a show, or rides. There's other things we can do, too."

"Hmm.. I dunno, I can't make up my mind." 

"Come on, Astro. We took you here because it's your last day before school starts. Just show a little interest." Cindy looked at me.

"Oh _now_ you figure out what day it is?" I chuckled.

"We knew what day it was…. We just wanted to surprise you… I guess its harder than we thought..."

"What?!" I facepalmed.

"Pffft… why am I so stupid…." I muttered.

We continued on our way walking around.

"This is fun, just walking around." I said with a smile.

"We should do at least one show, though." Tenma looked at me

"Ugh, but there's too many shows to choose from." I complained.

Tenma facepalmed.

"We can do more than one. We can do them all if you want." 

"Are you sure we're gonna have enough time?"

"We'll fit in as much as we can."

"Mmm.. good thing I can't eat…" I chuckled.

"Yeah. Speaking of which, I'm going to have to run a test on your systems after school Tuesday. Just to make sure all my calculations are correct."

"Ahh you remind me of the professor….always taking samples before he makes the list…."

"This is a little different."  
"_How _different?"

"Well, I'm not going to try and deal with your problems like he did. I'm actually going to fix them. Something he's probably too chicken to do."

"Hmm… that should be interesting."

"Do you think it'll be painful.." I said, shuddering.

"Shouldn't be. Trust me, I would never want you to be in more pain then you already are."

"Phew! No more needles for me!" I rejoiced.

"No seriously, because needles hurt like no ones beeswax though…"

"We all know needles hurt."

"Oh good, i'm not alone."

We passed by a gift shop.

"Gift shop!" I ran inside.

"Dang, I love these places!"

"Too bad I don't have any money…" 

I looked back at Tenma.

"Fine…." He rolled his eyes.

I smiled.

After a few minutes we left the gift shop with a small bag in my hand.

"Explain to me why gifts shops are so expensive…" I said.

"They want your money in exchange for cheap trinkets." ((omg! Tenma! You and your sass today! ouo ~kate))

"Pfft… stupid…"

We spent the rest of the day walking around and getting snacks. And also going to a few shows, which were better than i expected.

"Mmmm… it's getting close to dinner… I should get a drink." I said with a yawn.

I rubbed my eye as we continued walking.

"D- do you know what time it is? I'm a little sleepy.." I yawned again.

"It's 4:30."

"Oh…. o- oh…. kay." well?

The more I walked the more droopy my eyes became, I was walking a little slower and leaning forward.

"...AH!" I woke myself up, but fell back asleep again.

"You ok there, Astro?" Tenma asked me.

"Hmm?" I slowly turned around and looked at Tenma with my sleepy face.

He smiled.

"Get on my back. I'll carry you."

I sluggishly nodded and made my way to Tenma and let him pick me up piggy back style.

I hung my arms over his shoulders and laid my head on his back.

We headed out of the park and went to the car to headed home. We came back home later.

I walked into my room again after taking a shower, I crawled into my bed and covered myself in sheets.

I heard a knock at my door.

"Hmmm, who is it?" I asked in a sleepy tone.

Cindy peeked her head through the door with a smile.

I could see Tenma standing behind her.

"Oh, it's just you guys." I chuckled.

They walked in.

"Man, Eighth grade…that too much for me to intake…" I said after they walked in.

"I'm sure you'll do great." Cindy sat on the edge of the bed.

I smiled.

"I just hope I won't get that same nightmare again." I sighed.

"If anything happens, we're right here to protect you."_**  
**_  
I nodded with another smile.

She stood up and kissed my forehead.

"Goodnight." She said walking to the door.

"Night."

"Goodnight." Tenma walked up to me and ruffled my hair, then followed Cindy out the door.

I tossed and turned around until I got comfortable and went to bed.

(END OF CHAPTER ONE!)


	2. School

Chapter Two: School

Monday morning it was around 6:30 in the morning, I got out of bed and walked into the hallway.

No one was there.

"Oh, guess they never noticed I like getting up early." I shrugged and walked to the fridge to get a drink.

I grabbed a drink and walked back to my room to get dressed.

Around 7:30 I finished getting ready and headed out for the door.

"Hmm…. I hope they know i'm leaving?" I said before walking to the door.

I took out a sheet of paper and left a note on the table, then walked out the door to go to school.

Tenma slowly opened his eyes.

He yawed as he moved his arm from around Cindy's waist.

"Hmmmm. What time is it?" He sleepily asked himself.

He looked over at his alarm clock.

It read "7:35".

"Cindy?" He gently shook his wife's shoulder.

"Yes, dear?" She yawned.

"What time is Astro supposed to go to school?"

"He's supposed to be there around 8. But he said he might need to leave around 7:30."

"Oh… Well…. I hope he has…. a nice time at school…." Tenma yawned, laying back down.

A few moments passed.

Suddenly, Tenma sat up.

"He can't walk that far!"

He struggled to get out of the sheets and jumped out of the bed.

"Sweetie?" Cindy looked over as Tenma ran out of the bedroom door.

"He's not in here." Tenma looked in Astro's room.

"He must've left already." Cindy leaned against the wall to the hallway as Tenma frantically looked around.

He quickly walked over to the table and saw a piece of what looked like was ripped from a notebook.

"_**WENT TO SCHOOL. SEE YOU LATER"**_

_**~ASTRO**_

_**P.S. YOU SERIOUSLY NEED TO WAKE UP EARLIER…. **_

"Should I go after him and drive him the rest of the way?" Tenma asked Cindy as she walked into the kitchen.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." She yawned again.

"No. He might get a heat stroke. Or extremely dehydrated. Or he may trip and crack his head open. Or…." Tenma rambled on as he grabbed his keys.

He walked over to the door and quickly got into his car.

"Bye!" Cindy waved to Tenma as he quickly drove off.

She chuckled as she slowly shook her head, closing the front door.

"Gosh, it's so hot outside." I said as I continued walking the sidewalk.

I pulled out my drink from my book bag and drank it.

"Ahh! Fresh cold drink, always does the trick!" I burped.

"Oooh man, that was nasty!" I said waving my hand around.

I saw a car slow down behind me.

"Uhh… that doesn't look normal.." I said, looking behind me.

It got closer to me.

My breathing quickened as well as my pace.

"Hey!" A deep voice called out.

"AHHH IT'S A PEDOPHILE!" I yelled running as fast as I could.

"Astro!" The car sped up and next thing I know it's driving right besides me.

"YOU'RE NEVER GONNA TAKE ME ALIVE YOU PERVERT!" I yelled.

"Astro! It's me! Your father!" The window rolled down.

"What?" I stopped running and tilted my head.

The car braked and Tenma walked out.

"Didn't you get my note?" I asked.

"Y-yeah… But I didn't... want you walking so far…. all by yourself…." Tenma was breathing heavily when he walked up to me.

"Oh please, i'll be fine.."

"But…."

I sighed.

"It's okay, I always walk to and from school, I'll be fine." I smiled.

"But this is a longer walk. And it's blazing out here!"

"What do you mean longer?"

"Your school is a lot farther from my house than Elefun's."

"It _is_? Well Gee no one bothered to tell me _that_!"

"I thought you knew…."

"Well i didn't think it'd be _that_ far…"

"It's gotta be… about 3 times farther. I looked it up on MapQuestz."

"Gosh! i'm gonna be late then!"

"Well, get in the car, I'll drive you."

"Pfft.. fine." I slowly got in the car.

"You almost made me think you were a pedophile driving that slow man… scared me…"

"Haha. Sorry. I was just trying to make sure it was you…."

"Sure…"

"Pft." Tenma started the car and drove off.

"Do you even know where my school is?"

"Yeah."

"Oh okay, i just don't want to get lost..."

"Like I said, I looked it up on MapQuestz."

"But maybe next time you should get up earlier..."

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I'm used to sleeping in."

"Same."

Soon, we arrived at my school.

"Ah! We're here!" I unclicked my seatbelt.

"I'll pick you up after school." Tenma smiled as I got out.

"Pfft... Sure, whatever..." I shrugged.

"See you later." He waved through the car window.

I walked inside and looked up at the banner they put on the top.

_**"WELCOME BACK JAGUARS! 2036-2037 school year" **_

I walked inside the double doors and walked passed the front office desk, but when I almost made it to another set of double doors to go into the hallway, I heard something.

"ASTRO!" I heard what sounded like Brianna yelling.

I turned around.

Brianna ran up to me and gave me a huge hug.

"Look, I'm still wearing your hoodie!" Brianna exclaimed.

Brianna turned around and walked away from me to go see Becky who was walking in.

"Becky!" Brianna walked up to her.

"Sup Bri!" Becky greeted.

"Oh I see you dyed your hair..."

"Yeah, I told you I was gonna die it yesterday..."

"The red looks great with the black hair, really brings out your style."

"Wanna walk the halls?"

"Ehh I was gonna have Astro carry me to the cafeteria for breakfast."

"Suit yourself."

Becky walked into the hallway and began to sing an Adele song.

Brianna walked up to me and tried to climb on top of me.

I carried her.

"To the cafeteria, pookie face!" Brianna commanded, pointing outwards.

"Ehhh... Really?"

"Yes really now let's get a moving!"

"Fine..." I slowly began to walk as I carried Brianna to the cafeteria.

Soon the bell rang and I walked inside my homeroom class, as usual on every first day of school I got there first and sat in the middle of the class.

"Now students, as you know, this is homeroom! But don't think you won't be getting any grades for this class, because you will! I'll be giving out conduct grades! Plus, there are also many rules you are expected to follow in my class!" The teacher said, slowly pacing back and forth around the room.

"Rule one: No phones out! If I see a phone I will take it and send it to administration and you will not get it back until the last day of school!"

"Rule two: No swearing!"

"Rule three: When the announcements are on or I am talking, your mouths are glued shut, you hear me!"

"There will be no eating, drinking, permission to leave for any purpose other than to go home or to your next class when I dismiss you!"

"Hmmmm... Astro, stand up."

I slowly stood up from my chair.

"Now here is an example of a star student, well behaved, follows the rules and I even hear you got the trophy for Principal's honor roll, am I right?"

"Y-yes." I said sheepishly.

"Great."

"You can sit back down now..."

I slowly sat back down.

Soon the bell rang, the teacher dismissed us.

"Astro!" Brianna walked up to me and toppled me over.

"Ah! You know you really need to stop toppling me over..."

"I know, I just can't help but topple you over and squish your adorable, cute face!"

Brianna and I got up.

"So what class do you have next?" Brianna asked.

"Geometry." I replied.

"Omg me too! Who do you have?"

"Some lady who's name I can't pronounce..." I showed Brianna my schedule.

"Ahh me too! Now you can walk me to class without getting late." Brianna exclaimed.

"Carry me?" She asked.

"Fine." I picked her up and walked down the hall, slowly swinging her around.

"Wheee! This is like a roller coaster!" Brianna yelled.

I stopped walking.

"No Brianna, just... No." I shook my head.

"Aww, okay." Brianna said with a pout.

We continued walking until we got to our Geometry class.

I put Brianna down and we both walked inside, there were already a few people there.

"Hi, welcome to Geometry class!" The teacher greeted.

I smiled at her and sat down.

Later on, Brianna and me were holding hands on the way to lunch. We walked in and passed Theodore and Alvin.

"Sup!" I said to Theodore.

"Sup?" Theodore greeted back.

"Oh nothing, you know, the usual..."

Me and Brianna walked away and sat down at a table.

Ken sat down in front of us.

"Sups!" Ken said as he sat down.

"Aren't you guys gonna go eat?" He asked.

"I can't eat and Brianna isn't hungry..." I replied.

Ken opened his lunch box.

"Look what I got." Ken showed us his bowl of tomato soup.

"Ewww is that period blood?" I asked, looking inside the bowl.

"Eww, what?!"

"Looks like period blood to me, what do you think Brianna?"

"Yeah, kinda looks like it..." Brianna said after looking inside.

"Why the hell would they put period blood in tomato soup?!" Ken protested.

"Why _wouldn't _they put period blood in tomato soup, who the hells gonna notice!"

Ken rolled his eyes.

"So uh... Ken.."

"Pfft.."

"Hey, at least I didn't call you Kennedy, gotta give me props for that!"

"Ehh true.."

"Hehe, reminds me of the Kennedy space center, oh and the John F. Kennedy guy that got assassinated- oh I see why you don't wanna be called Kennedy."

"Well, at least you could drown your sorrows in Pierce the veil music." I shrugged.

"Hell yeah!" Ken exclaimed.

"You see, it's the inner band coming out of you, I like it!"

"Ugh... I gotta use the bathroom, be back in a few..." I got up from the table, Brianna followed me.

"Fine." I carried Brianna on my back as I walked out to the bathrooms.

"Don't ask." I said to the person that was standing around.

I dropped Brianna and went inside the bathroom.

"Hmmm... Maybe I'll just go wash my hands." Brianna said, walking inside the girls bathroom.

"Squeaky clean, squeaky clean" Brianna kept rubbing her hands as she walked over to the table.

"Oh don't tell me you said that all the way from the bathroom." Ken said.

"Huh?" I tilted my head.

"She always says that after she washes her hands..." Ken complained.

"Because they are! I always make sure my hands are clean..." Brianna stated.

Later on after school I said my goodbyes to Brianna and waited out front for Tenma to show up like he said.

"4:00, I hope he knows I get out at 3:50..."

I sat down and watched as other cars pulled through and other people were leaving.

I looked around and saw a familiar car parked not too far from me.

"Pfft... Old people..." I got up and started walking.

I walked up to Tenma's car and tapped on the window.

He looked up and motioned for me to get in the back.

I opened the back seat door and got in.

"You _do_ realize you can go through the loop, right?" I asked.

"Oh." He looked over at the cars that were driving past him. ((Wow, Tenma. Wow ~kate))

"Pffft... This is why I walk home..."

"I'll go through it next time."

"Okay, I'm trusting and putting my faith In you...even though I dont know how..."

He rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"So how was your first day in 8th grade?" Cindy turned around and smiled at me.

"Ehhh..." I shrugged.

"Wasn't that great?"

"Well It looks like I have a nazi soldier for homeroom, Geometry is stupid and all I did was put away books in the library..."

We all made it home and walked inside the house.

I walked into my room to start some of the homework I got.

About an hour later, Cindy came into my room to call me to dinner.

I walked out of my room and into the hallway and sat down at the table.

"Ooh what's today's menu of foods I'm not eating!" I asked with excitement.

"Just chicken with rice and beans..." Tenma said, setting two plates down at the table.

"Hmm interesting..." My stomach made a strange rumbling noise.

"Uhhhh... What was that?" I asked, trying not to sound scared.

"Hmmm?"

"I- I don't know where that noise came from..." I frantically looked around.

My stomach made the rumbling noise again.

"There it is again!"

"It's your stomach."

"Oh! Hehe... Almost scared me, looks like I'm gonna need another drink..."

"Ehhh... But aren't energy drinks unhealthy, they say you shouldn't drink it on an empty stomach." I complained as I got out of my chair and went to the fridge to get a drink.

"Drink something else then."

"But then how do I get the energy out of it..." ((... ok… just wow… JUST WOW… _**WOW**_…. ~kate))

"It doesn't work like that, Astro…."

"No, you don't get what I mean, regular drinks don't have stuff like caffeine to keep you awake and give you energy, so how else am I gonna have energy and stay awake?" ((Haha nice semi-save there Astro... ~Emily))

"Drink it then. You should be fine."

"Eh. Okay." I opened my drink and took a sip.

The next afternoon I was adding the finishing touches on my thumbnail after finishing what seemed like not a lot of homework.

"Ahhh this is too beautiful!" I joked.

I heard a knock at my door.

"Wha?" I called out.

"Astro." Tenma opened the door.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Remember what today is?"

"Tuesday?"

Tenma sighed.

"Yes and no… Today is Tuesday, but I also have to run that test on you today,"

"I know that, I'm just doing the same thing you did on Sunday..."

"Hey. I was trying to surprise you…."

"What goes around comes around..."

He stuck his tongue out.

"Come down in the basement in 10 minutes." He walked away.

"Oh good should give me enough time to upload this beautiful thumbnail I worked on in Photosshop, I'm in love with it man..." I said, looking at my realistic drawing on my laptop.

After 10 minutes, I left my room and headed to the basement.

I whistled on my way down the stairs into the basement.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw Tenma fiddling around with a few things in his lab.

"Ooh hi-tech, I don't think Grandpa Sanders had any of this! But I do recall Dr. Kenny having something similar..." I said, walking up to Tenma.

"I keep things updated…." He said, turning a dial.

"So are you saying Grandpa Sanders is a bit old school?"

"I'd say more like 'cheap'. These kinds of things cost money you know. And lots of it."

"Ahhh I can agree on that!"

He chuckled.

"Ok. Now sit over there." He pointed to a table.

"Okie dokie!" I did as told and walked over to the table and sat down on top of it.

"Take your shirt off."

"Uh..." I looked down for a moment.

"Hmm? Is something wrong?" Tenma looked back at me.

"Uh... N-no... It's okay..." I slowly took off my shirt and laid it next to me on the cold metal table.

Tenma walked up to me and put a few sensors on my head and my body.

"Just sit still. You shouldn't feel anything." Tenma walked back over to his computer and pressed a button.

"I'm taking your word..." I replied.

A few seconds passed.

"Ok. I think that's all I need."

"Oh good, it's kinda cold in here.."

"Now take those off, put your shirt back on, and go back to whatever you were doing."

I did as told and walked back inside my room when I was finished. Kait?

Soon before anyone could've guessed it, Labor Day weekend came by for a visit, at the moment I was in my room, looking through old drawings in my sketchbook. But it had dawned on me when I reached more recent drawings that I was getting fixed this weekend.

"Aw crap." I put my head down.

I'm hoping no five minute power outage gets in the way of my repairs this time...

I set my sketchbook aside and walked out of my room and into the living room.

I casually sat down on the couch.

"Hello, Astro." Tenma said, looking away from the television.

"Oh! Hehe.. hello citizen…" I chuckled.

"Why do you always call me that?" Tenma laughed.

"I dunno… why, do you prefer something else like.. um.. Sheldon?"

"Haha. No."

"Good, because i already gave that name to Atom."

"Remember when you used to call me Willy Wonka?"

"Pfft.. you still are, I just thought citizen was a lot more casual, so it goes great with casual conversations."

"Ok then."

"Ok then." I repeated after him, shrugging my shoulder carelessly.

"Are you copying me?"

"Are you copying me?"

"Hey. Stop it."

"Hey. Stop it."

"Seriously."

"Seriously."

"Oh. Well it looks like Astro's getting grounded for a month!"

I leaned back.

"Oh. Well it looks like _Tenma's_ getting grounded for a month!"

"You can't ground me."

I chuckled.

"Eh, you're right, but it was worth a try…"

"You're still grounded, though." Tenma leaned back.

I grinned.

"You know I'm joking, right?"

"Haha, no.. I thought you were being _so_ serious, like it can't get anymore serious than what you said." I said sarcastically.

"Oh. So you're being sarcastic with me now?"

"Yeah."

"Well then. You're really grounded. 3 weeks. No laptop and no phone." He said in a serious tone.

"Eh. okay i'll survive…"

"6 weeks."

"Time flies by fast…"

"6 months."

"School gonna end in about 6 months, or maybe 7?"

"1 year."

"I'll be in high school by then…"

"5 years."

"Dad, by the time 5 years go by i'll be out of here going to _real_ school…" I folded my arms.

He rolled his eyes.

"Wow. You're no fun."

"I'm just stating the facts…"

"They never said the truth was suppose to be fun, sometimes it can hurt…"

"Whatever." He looked back at the TV.

"6 weeks?"

"I was joking that time too, Astro." Tenma couldn't help but chuckle a little.

I shook my head and chuckled back.

"So when's this whole fixing thing taking place, i need to prepare myself for any doom or any five minute power outages…"

"Tomorrow."

"Good, that should give me about 24 hours to freak out and another 2 hours to relax and attempt to eat crackers."

"You don't need to worry. I won't let anything bad happen."

"Yeah but what if the thing happens again, then it'll just get worse and then i'll be just like frankenstein!"

"Nothings going to happen."

"Does your sentence come with a 100% trust back guarantee?"

"Yes."

"And contains no fees what-so-ever?"

"Yup." He nodded.

"Annnnndddddd is there a 30 day trial and if you don't like it you can return or exchange it for free?"

"Ok, now you're just getting ridiculous."

"Well I have to make sure what i'm getting is worth it."

"Fine then. Yes."

"Okay, I shall deposit my $19.99 worth of trust and invest in your sentence. Is there a shipping fee?"

"Nope."

"Okie dokie." I smiled before chuckling again.

He slowly shook his head with a smirk on his face. ((That's literally what i've been doing for the last 20 minutes. haha. ~Kate))

"Do you like pie?" I blurted out.

"Haha. Sure. Why not. Pie is good."

"Too bad I forgot what pie tastes like… but i hear it tastes good.."

"You can have some pie on Sunday if you want. Well, if everything goes well."

"Really?" I swore I sounded just like Atom.

"Yeah."

"Mmm… I can't wait!" I rubbed my hands together.

Tenma ruffled my hair.

I laughed.

The next day, I was sitting in bed listening to music since I didn't feel too motivated to do anything else.

"Astro." Tenma peeked his head in my room.

I was too busy singing along with the music and tapping my hands I didn't notice Tenma had called me.

"Astro!" He said a little louder.

I looked around.

"Heh? Who is it?!"

"Astro. Over here…."

"Wha-"

"Oh." I pulled an earphone out of my ear after spotting Tenma.

"What is it?" I asked.

"10 minutes." He said.

"10 minutes for what, for your new ad to play on TV?" I joked.

"10 minutes until you have to come down in the basement….."

"Oh! Pfft… okay…"

I put my earphone back in my ear and started to sing along with the music and tapping my hands again.

After a few songs I realized that about 10 minutes had passed.

"Holy ish! I better get going!" I raced out of my room, all the way downstairs to the basement.

"Hey, Astro." Tenma smiled at me.

"Phew! I'm not late am i?"

"No."

"THANK YOU SO MUCH LORD!"

"Ok. Sit on the table."

"Sure, sounds easy.." I did as told and walked over to the table and sat on top of it.

"Now, do you think you can fall asleep?"

"I can try…"

I laid down on the table.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, eventually I gave in and fell asleep.

It seemed like only a few minutes until I woke up again.

"Mmm.. w-what's uh.." I mumbled, my vision was extremely blurry and I couldn't comprehend what's going on.

"Oh good, you're awake." I saw a blurry blob stand next to me.

"Huh?"

"Astro, how are you feeling?"

"I dunno, everything is blurry."

"Blink a little."

I did as told.

"Oh! There we go!"

"So? How do you feel?" Tenma asked me.

"Mostly okay."

"No pain?"

"Nope."

"Good." Tenma breathed out a sigh of relief.

"That means everything went well."

"Phew!"

"Now, you can't eat anything today, but you can eat tomorrow. Unfortunately, you're still going to have a restricted diet for the next few weeks but after that you should be good as new!" He smiled.

"Eh, okay… I'm already used to not eating, so i'll be fine.."

"Your systems just need to recalibrate themselves."

"Recali- what?"

"They need to get themselves back in order. Turns out this wasn't too hard of a fix. Not much of it had to do with your programming."

"Really? Isn't that strange…"

"It was mostly your mechanics. Probably caused by that power outage."

"Ahhh I see.."

"Well, we don't have to worry about that now. Everythings fixed. I just want you to take it easy for the rest of the weekend, ok?"

"Worry about what.. my eating problem or my corruption, or both?"

"Well, your corruption is actually separate from your 'eating problem'. That'll take a lot longer to fix."

"I can tell…"

"I can always try fixing it some other time, if you're up to it."

"I don't know, I have mixed feelings about that.."

"It won't be much different from this, but it'll be a much longer process with more tests and such."

I shrugged.

"Well, you can go back upstairs now."

"Okie dokie!" I got up from the chair and walked back to my room.

The next morning I woke up and walked into the kitchen.

"Ah. So what do I get to eat?!" I rubbed my hands together.

"Here you are." Tenma smiled and place a small plate in front of me.

"Just some eggs?"

"You need to take it slow. Don't want your stomach going crazy, now do you?"

I shook my head.

"So when am I getting my pie?"

Tenma facepalmed.

"You'll get it after dinner." He chuckled as he sat next to me.

"Now, why don't you try eating."

"Eh sure, protein isn't gonna kill me.." I shrugged and took a bite of the eggs after grabbing a piece with my fork.

"So? Any problems?"

"Mmm... Needs ketchup."

Tenma laughed.

"I mean do you feel sick?"

"Hmmm... Not really, why? Is something suppose to happen?"

"No. No. You shouldn't feel anything. I guess everything is working correctly."

"So what are you gonna do about Grandpa Sanders?"

"Oh. Him? He doesn't need to know."

"But what about my list?"

"You can go to the office and tell them you don't need it anymore."

"Okay, seems easy..."

"But then what if Granpa Sanders gives me a _new _list?"

"Well, I'll just have to talk to him then."

"That's what I'm saying, you have to talk to him, and maybe use some college science words to throw him off, and as a bonus it'll be sure to make you sound smart!" I winked.

"Haha. Ok. If you say so."

"Yeah, cause there's nothing wrong with sounding like Albert Einstein!"

"Nothing wrong at all."

I chuckled.

"You know what would be funny?" I said

"What?"

"You and Uh... I guess I'll just call him as he is, Elefun, fighting, like the people in Mortals Kombat or like Super Smash Broz!" I laughed.

"Ha! That would be easy! He so weak, I wouldn't mind beating his sorry a-" Tenma looked over at Cindy, who was standing behind me at the counter.

She gave him that "No" look I see women give their husbands sometimes.

She turned back around.

"She doesn't want me cursing anymore. Says it's 'unprofessional'." Tenma whispered to me.

"Women... Brianna does the same thing even though she does it herself sometimes..."

Tenma chuckled.

"You know what else I've wondered?"

"What?"

"What does beer taste like. Because I know what root beer taste like since I'm a fanatic of it even though it makes me act all weird, but I wonder what beer taste like, but I know I never will because the alcohol in it will kill me... But I've just always wondered that..."

"Hmmm. I don't think you'd like it."

"That doesn't sound good..."

"But is it kinda like root beer?"

"Hmmmmm. A little…."

"Hmm... Interesting..." I slowly nodded.

"But, why does root beer make me act so weird? That just confuses me..."

"It's probably the caffeine."

"Wait, they put caffeine in it?"

"Yeah. Root beer is soda. Soda has caffeine in it."

"Mmm... Do you think I should stop drinking it then?"

"Well soda isn't good for you in the first place, with all the sugar and chemicals in it. "

"Yeah... Maybe I'll just have one for lunch and that's it..."

"Oh. And I'll be packing your lunches for the next few weeks. I don't want you eating any of that greasy cafeteria food just yet."

"Yes! You don't understand how nasty the school lunch is..."

"Well, if you want, I can just pack your lunch all the time then."

"Tomato soup?"

"You want tomato soup?"

"Dude, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for tomato soup."

"Ok. I'll make you tomato soup as often as possible."

"Hmm... I'm in the mood for crackers all the sudden... mmm... Crackers..."

"Finish your eggs, then you can have some crackers."

"Yay!"

"Oh.. Wait… Can I have the ketchup?"

Wednesday after school I went over to Ken's to do something with Brianna while Tenma said he had something to do.

"So now you're going all willy-nilly fixing him without my permission?!" Elefun approached Tenma angrily as he walked in his house.

"First off, how did you even find out?! Second, I don't need your permission!" Tenma replied.

"How I found out shouldn't concern you!"

"Uh. Yeah. It should."

"Well... I'm not telling you!"

"You're such a child. Can't you just grow up and accept things as they are?"

"No... I can't…"

"Look at you! Acting like a 5 year old. How am I supposed to talk to you?"

Atom walked out of the hallway and into the living room.

"Uh... E-everything okay here?" He asked

"Yes. Everything is fine here, Atom. We're just having a regular old conversation." Tenma looked at him.

"Oh... Okay, if you say so..." Atom walked into the kitchen and left with a bottle of water in his hand.

"Just who do you think you are?! Coming into _my_ house and making it like you own the place."

"That's not what I'm trying to do…."

"Then what _are _you trying to do?"

"You're the one that freaked out because I fixed a problem you wouldn't."

"I have my reasons as to why I wouldn't fix him!"

"Like what? You're trying to keep him from being happy? You're too scared? You're too stupid?"

"No! I would never change him the way you did! I have my own methods."

"Then why didn't you fix him?"

"Because I refuse to! I tried fixing him my own way but he is too much of a rebel, he won't listen to me?!"

"Because _you_ won't listen."

"What, of course I listen!"

"You hear but you don't _listen_. You don't comprehend what he's saying. Because you refuse to. You wouldn't let him feel like you care, you would just dump some other chore on him to get him out of your hair." Tenma took a step forward.

"Well what else am I supposed to do, I'd like to see _you _raise two other children _by yourself_!"

"Oh, I could. And I would do better than you."

"Oh really? I highly doubt that!"

"Well you can't do it very well."

"Tenma I understand you are trying to ridicule me and point out how much of a bad caregiver I am, but that's not going to change anything."

Tenma facepalmed.

"I'm not trying to change anything."

"Tenma, all I'm saying is that what you did wasn't right, that's all, I'm not interested in your sassy comments you've made."

"And I heard what You did through Astro's school, they called and told me Astro had stopped by and I knew the only one responsible for it was you!"

"I just don't understand why you're so against me fixing him."

"Because he shouldn't be fixed the way he was!"

"You don't even know what I did."

"sure, I may not know what you did, but I assume it's something I wouldn't approve of."

"You don't approve of me making it so he's able to eat again?"

"pfft... I just don't understand why my ways don't work for Astro, they work fine for Atom and Uran, it's only Astro that's a pain in my butt sometimes..."

"You don't know the proper way to treat him. He's different, but that doesn't mean he should be treated badly."

Elefun folded his arms.

"You're giving me a headache, this discussion is OVER!"

"Whatever." Tenma turned around and walked over to the door.

"There's no way you can change it anyway. It's all out of your hands."

He slammed the door as he walked out.

"No, it's C. Brianna."

"Oh!"

Brianna and I were finishing up the last of our Geometry homework.

Suddenly I felt something vibrate in my pocket.

"Ahh, who's texting me?" I said, pulling out my phone.

"Maybe your dad?" Brianna replied, looking at me.

"Oh yeah, he must be done talking to Elefun…" I looked at Brianna.

"Ehh… lemme see what he wants…" I looked at my phone.

_**I'll be coming to pick you up in a few minutes.**_

"Oh, I better get ready then…" I put my phone away and put away a few things in my bookbag.

"Well that wasn't long…" Brianna pouted.

"Hmm… maybe if you play your cards right you can get Tenma to take you too." I chuckled.

"Maybe.. but that seems like a lot of work for me, considering he barely knows me…"

"But it's not like you're a bad person, at least I hope you're not…"

Brianna laughed.

"Since when was _I _a bad person"

"I dunno." I shrugged.

"Pfft, you're silly.." Brianna teased, lightly punching my shoulder.

A few minutes later, I was walking out the door with Brianna and into Ken's driveway.

"Should be here any minute now." I said, looking at my watch.

Brianna gave me a surprise peck on the cheek.

I blushed.

Soon Tenma pulled up in the driveway.

"You sure you don't wanna come?" I asked.

"Eh, i'm not that good at playing cards." Brianna shrugged.

"Well suit yourself, see you tomorrow!" I waved goodbye to Brianna as I walked away.

"See ya pookie face!" Brianna waved back.

"So? how'd it go?" I asked Tenma when I got in the car.

"Not so good." He sighed.

"I can tell, I feel bad for Brianna too, I think she wanted to come but she said she's not good at playing cards…" I sighed back.

"Figuratively speaking…." I added.

Tenma pulled out of the driveway.

He didn't say much on the drive home.

"Man, you must be really in the dumps, but don't worry, I understand, sorta…. human emotions are kinda hard to understand sometimes…"

He forced a smile.

I looked out the window as Tenma made it into the driveway.

Tenma walked inside and slumped down onto the couch, leaning his head back and covering his face with his hands.

I sat down next to him and casually looked around for a moment.

"Hmmm… i'm gonna get some water." I got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. 

"Oh. You're back." Cindy looked at me.

"Yeah." I shrugged.

She looked through the doorway at Tenma.

"What happened?" She back looked at me with a concerned expression.

"I dunno, seems like he's down in the dumps, but I can't understand human emotions that much, which is ironic since I can understand mine and i'm sure mine's was modeled after a human…"

Cindy ruffled my hair and walked over to Tenma, sitting down next to him.

I opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. 

"Sweetie?" Cindy put her hand on Tenma's arm.

He looked at her.

"It didn't go well did it?"

He shook his head.

"Come here." Cindy put her arms around him.

He rested his head on her shoulder as she rubbed the back of his neck.

I walked back to sit down on the couch, I saw the both of them and my cheeks went light pink.

Cindy looked up at me and tilted her head, motioning me to keep walking and go to my room.

I turned around and went to my room.

The next day during last period I was in the library, as usual, I was putting my final set of books away.

"There!" I said, after putting the last book away.

"Can I go on the computer now?" I asked, looking at the librarian.

She nodded.

I walked over to a computer and opened up an internet browser. 

"Finally, I can get a start on this homework." I said, pulling a notebook out of my bookbag.

Someone walked into the library.

"Hello dear, here to check out a book?" I heard the librarian ask.

"Uh.. no, i'm here to return a book…" I heard the student reply. 

"Oh, just give the book to Astro, he's by the computer."

"Thanks Ms." The student walked passed her.

"Here you go." The student held the book out to me.

"Oh!" I turned to them and grabbed the book.

The student left out of the library.

"Eh.. i'll put this back later…" I set the book aside and continued on my homework.

I felt another vibration in my pocket.

I looked around and swiftly pulled my phone out to see who texted me.

I put a hand over my mouth and tried not to laugh.

I quickly put my phone away and got up to put the book back.

A week later, the three of us walked inside after school had ended.

"Would you like an afterschool snack?" Cindy asked me as she walked into the kitchen. 

"Crackers?"

"Mmhmm." She reached up into the cabinet.

I smiled.

"Here you are." She handed me a plate of crackers with some strawberries on the side.

"Mmm…" I rubbed my hands together. 

She walked over to the fridge to grab a drink.

"Is it me, or does she look different?" I thought.

"Hey uh…. mom?"

"Yes?" She turned around.

I lowered my voice to a whisper.

"Is it me, or does it look like you've been gaining weight?" 

She stared blankly at me for a second.

She looked away and then at Tenma as he walked in.

"Um. Dear…."

"Yes." He walked up to her.

"I think it might be a good time to tell Astro."

I leaned back for a moment.

"Tell me what? Wait… You aren't sending me to military school are you? I'm sorry, I won't be bad anymore. I didn't mean to say that." I panicked a little. 

"No. No. Astro you didn't do anything bad. We aren't sending you anywhere." Tenma shook his head.

"Oh good, almost had me panicking there."

"So what is it then?"

Tenma and Cindy looked at each other and then me.

"Well…. We're going to have a baby." Cindy said as Tenma put his arm around her.

"Oh." I tilted my head.

"oh.. OH!" I finally got it. 

"So… that means…"

I gasped and looked at them in awe.

They smiled at me.

I stuffed a few crackers in my mouth.

"Wow, I didn't see that one coming, you guys must be _really_ good at hiding stuff…" 

"uh. Yeah. I guess so." Tenma shrugged.

I finished my last cracker and got up from my chair.

I walked up to them with a big smile and gave them a huge hug.

Suddenly a thought slipped into my mind and my eyes widened.

I took a step back.

"Woah… woah.. wait a minute…"

"Huh?" They looked confused at me.

"D-does that mean you did, um… oh gawd…"

"What?… Oh. Come on Astro. Grow up." Tenma said to me.

"B-but…uh…" I slowly walked back.

I kept walking back and tripped on something and fell.

"Astro. Are you ok?" Cindy ran up to me, Tenma following close behind her.

She reached down to help me up.

"Ehh no… I'll get up myself, you're dirty... "

She rolled her eyes and stood back up.

I slowly got up.

"Bleh." I stuck my tongue out as I brushed myself off.

"Sorreh... I have a mind of my own…" My cheeks turned pink.

"That's ok." Cindy smiled.

I chuckled.

"Do other people know? 'Cause how come I didn't find out earlier? Word goes around, you know?"

"You're actually the first person we've told."

"Really?" I sounded shocked.

"Yeah…."

"Woah."

"We didn't want to tell anyone because it wasn't too long after we got married and we didn't want to make a big fuss..." Tenma looked at Cindy.

"Oh I see…" I slowly nodded.

"Hmmm…. I feel kinda weird now…"

"I can tell…" Cindy chuckled.

Thanksgiving break came along a few months later. But our school gave us Wednesday off as well, which I didn't mind.

"So for this special vlog to make up for the vlog I didn't do Monday, it is…."

"What to do for Thanksgiving!"

"Pretty much from what I hear, the biggest complaint about Thanksgiving is that there's SO MUCH FOOD!"

"And coming from a person that sits on their lazy butt and eats crackers, that must be a lot of food….."

"So… how do you solve the problem?"

"I dunno, I never eaten Thanksgiving food."

"But I will use my buffet knowledge to kinda- help me out here."

"Because when I go eat at let's say uh… Chinese buffet."

"I have so much food on my plate…"

"But the smallest proportional sizes you will ever see."

"So pretty much, get as much of everything as you can, but don't over do it and turn your plate into a junkyard of lost food, because you can't find any of it."

"And please…"

"Use your manners, for the sake of the world and everything in it…"

"No one wants to see the chicken in your mouth, just no... "

"That is gross- da hell is _wrong_ with you?!"

"Hmm things to do during Thanksgiving…"

"Well two years back I spent the days watching TV, doing art, talking to Brianna…"

"Mind you these were the days _before_ I became a vlogger…"

"So I guess if you're wondering… just sit at home and do absolutely nothing!"

"Yeah… that works…"

"Or maybe I dunno, go visit that annoying blonde girl's house and bitch slap her, or if you think she's hot attempt to french kiss her.."

"Hey, its practically the holidays, mine as well get ready for when the real deal goes on under the mistletoe."

"But to be honest, i'm not really in the holiday spirit until i'm forced to when the commercials on TV start playing."

"Like dude, I'm too young to drive a car how the eff do you think imma buy your Lexuz three bajillion! like what the motha effa?!"

"Like really, no one wants a car for the holidays you know what they want?"

"They want you to shut your damn pi-hole up and eat dirt for the rest of your life!"

"Like, I can't _stand_ it!"

"But anyways.. um…"

"Oh wait, hold on a sec.."

"FOCUS CAMERA! FOCUS!"

"Hold on my camera isn't focusing…"

"There, now it's not so blurry."

"YAY!"

"Meh."

"Yesterday I was in the library cause that's what i do every 5th period…."

"My arms hurt."

"You don't understand how heavy those books are, like how the hell do they even make those books?!"

"But anyways…"

"How did we get from Thanksgiving to school."

"I dunno…"

"Maybe it was some kind of magic?"

"UNICORNS!"

"Pfft duh, because unicorns are responsible for everything!"

"Ya!"

"Uhh.. am I running out of time, I can't see my alarm clock…."

"Ugh, where's my phone when I need it."

"In the kitchen."

"Yeah because that's a _great_ place to put your phone Astro, right where everyone can see it and try to guess your password!"

"Pfft, no one can guess my password…"

"At least I hope they can't…"

There was a knock at my door.

"Huh?"

"Astro, your phone." Tenma opened the door and tossed my phone to me. ((now how's that for great timing? hmmm? ouo ~kate))

"Ah!" I caught it.

"And there you have it folks, my surprise guest I didn't even ask to be in this video!" I moved my camera and pointed it at Tenma.

"Fabulous isn't it?"

Tenma stuck his tongue out and closed the door.

"Well Gee thanks dad, nice to see you too." I put my camera back.

"Well looks like i'm sure to be outta time, don't forget if you hate or love this video thumbs up, comment, see my other vlogs, um… sub…. I try to make videos Monday and Friday, except for this Monday that passed because I had a project to do… um.. what else."

"Picstagram?"

"Yeah, I think that's it…"

"Oh.. and uh…"

"Happy Thanksgiving?"

"BAND FAN, OUT!"

I stopped recording.

"Phew!"

I walked out of my room and into the living room.

"I feel so drained out by these videos…" I complained as I sat down on the couch.

"It can't be that bad." Tenma looked over at me from the book he was reading.

"It's not that they're bad, i'm just getting tired of doing them so much!"

"I'm sure your fans won't mind if you take a little break from them."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. You've made plenty of videos for them, so if you want to take some time off from making videos, I'm sure they'll understand."

"I guess you have a point…" I shrugged.

"But then what do I do?"

"I guess you can make a video…."

"But like, what do I say… I don't wanna sound harsh…." I squirmed around a little.

"I don't know. I guess you could just say that you're not going to be making videos for a little while."

"Hmmm seems easy…"

_Emily: Wow Astro chu pretty, pretty STUPID! ooooooooooooooooooooo burn…. _

_Astro: … *gets up and leaves* _

_Emily: Wait Astro come back, you gotta tell us the rest of the storyyyyyyyy!_

_Emily: wut we do now Senpai? _

_Kaitlyn: I dunno… I'm still getting over the whole "cindy be preggers" thing o-o_

_Emily: But we need Astro to tell us the rest of the story!_

_Kaitlyn: *points index finger up in air* ME HAS IDEA! We can ask tenma how the rest of the story goes_

_Emily: *facepalms* i'm so getting a bad grade on this….  
_

_KaITLYN: maybe not. wut if you get extra points for interviewing TWO people_

_Emily: No, I can only do one…._

_Kaitlyn: well then… *gets up and runs after astro*_

_Astro: no! Let go! I'm gonna piss my pants if you don't stop!_

_Kaitlyn: SHUT UP! You need to finish the interveiwwwww!_

_Astro: …. no. _

_Kaitlyn: why not?_

_Astro: Because I need to pee? _

_Kaitlyn: fine.. go pee…. but you still gonna finish the interview_

_Astro: Thank you. *walks away and makes kissy faces at Kaitlyn* _

_Kaitlyn: *sticks tongue out* :P_

_Astro: You're welcome._

_Kaitlyn: JUST GO TO THE FRICKIN BATHROOM ALREADY!_

_Astro: *Rolls eyes and walks inside bathroom*_

_**30 minutes later**_

_Astro: Ahhh… uh… never mind._

_Emily: Does it really take you 30 minutes to pee? _

_Astro: Uhhhhh….. yeah…. it does…. *innocently looks around room*  
_

_Kaitlyn: ha sometimes my brother is in the bathroom for longer than that.. but only if he brings his phone in with him.  
_

_Astro: Yeah… let's just uh… go with that…  
_

_Kaitlyn and Emily:: *stares at Astro* o-o_

_Astro: Not like I was doing anything else… *slowly goes back to sitting in his chair*_

_Kaitlyn: ok then…._

_**goes back to interview**___

"Do you know what we're gonna do for Thanksgiving?" I asked.

"Yeah. we're going to have a dinner. Oh and if any of them aren't busy, you can have some friends over, too."

"Hmmm…. never eaten Thanksgiving food, Elefun doesn't really do anything, he just buys KCF and watches soap operas…"

"Pft. Another thing he doesn't do? What a lazy cheapskate." Tenma muttered.

"But their chicken taste pretty good, oh and their coleslaw too."

"Well Thanksgiving will be fun, don't worry." He smiled.  
"Hmmm… can't wait!" I smiled back.

"Me neither!"

"So what book are you reading?"

"Oh. The autobiography of Osamu Tezuka." ((HOW U LIKE ME NOW?! HMMM?! ~kate)) cuz i cray like that

"Hmm.. never heard of him…"

"He was quite an interesting man."

"Hmmm…. interesting…." I slowly nodded.

"Not really much of a reader, unless you consider manga a book, then I read _a lot_."

"I guess you could say they're the same."

"Ehh… I like to think they're two different things…"

Tenma shrugged. 

"Because think about it, um… oh.. I guess you're right, I mean…. I dunno…"

"Because a book is still a book whether it has pictures in it or not…. so I guess manga could be a _type_ of book?"

"Mmhmm." 

"Meh."

The next day, I was sitting at my desk, working on a drawing.

I banged my head on the keyboard and knocked out for a few minutes.

Maybe staying up all night to finish a drawing isn't such a great idea.

"Astro?" Tenma opened my door and peeked in.

I didn't respond. 

He chuckled when he saw me.

"Wake up, son." He gently shook my shoulder.

"Hmmm… wha?"

"Astro?"

"Hmm…" I looked up at Tenma with sleepy eyes.

"Did you invite anyone? Or is it just going to be us three?"

"I dunno, I was too busy drawing to think about it…" I rubbed my eye.

"Well, make sure to tell them before 12."

I nodded and yawned at the same time. 

"Breakfast is waiting for you in the kitchen." Tenma said as he walked out of the room.

"Ah okay." I slowly got out my my office chair and sluggishly walked out of my room. 

"Good morning." Cindy greeted me as I sat at the table.

"M-morning." I yawned.

"Aw. Tired?"

I slowly nodded.

"Well, here's your food. It should help wake you up." She handed me my plate.

"Thanks." I slowly began eating.

A few minutes later, I finished eating.

"So who are you thinking of asking to come for dinner?" Cindy sat in the seat next to me after taking my plate and putting it in the sink.

I shrugged.

"Well, you don't have to ask anyone."

"I just don't know who to ask."

"You could always ask your girlfriend, or your brother and sister."

"Hmmm… I guess I could ask them…" I stretched my arms.

"B-but I think i'm gonna need a nap first, drawing all night makes me….."

I yawned.

"Tired."

I woke up an hour later in bed, my head hurt a little but I did my best and ignored it.

"OH! I have to call." I said to myself, I reached over for my phone.

I decided to call Brianna first.

_**"Oh! uh…. I guess I could come, don't have much to do anyways…"**_

"_What do you mean, Ken's family isn't celebrating?" _

"_**Well yeah, but they're just gonna go out to like a fancy place or something." **_

"_Well that's better than ordering KCF and watching the professor watch some dumb soap opera." _

"_**What do you mean like a Telenovela?" **_

"_Sorta, just not in Spanish…"_

"_**Aww that must've really sucked."**_

"_It did, but the food was pretty good, not gonna lie or anything._

I heard Brianna chuckle.

"_**Well I better get ready then, what time should I show up?"**_

"_Don't worry, i'm sure my dad i'll come get you, but i'd say be ready by um.. 4 or 5-ish?"_

"_**Great, should give me enough time to iron and curl my hair.."**_

I rolled my eyes.

"_I'll see you then, right?"_

"_**Yep!" **_

We both said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone.

"Hmmm.. i'm hoping Atom will pick up the phone this time." I said, scrolling through my contacts.

"_**Uh yes, this is Atom speaking?" **_

"_Ah great, uh… i forgot what i was gonna ask…" _

"_**It's Astro, isn't it?"**_

"_Yeah."_

"_Umm…. so the professor have any plans?"_

"_**Not really, he's watching some dramatic TV show…."**_

"_Hmm.. he never changes…" _

"_**So what are you doing?"**_

"_Inviting people over for Thanksgiving…" _

"_**Oooh cool, wish I could go."**_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_**Well you haven't invited me yet so I can't go…" **_

"_Well do you wanna go?"_

"_**I guess… I was gonna go to Stephen's but then I remembered that he's going to visit family for Thanksgiving…so I guess i'll go." **_

"_Do you think Uran might wanna go?" _

"_**I dunno, i'll have to ask her, but i'm sure she'd love to go… the professors shows are kinda annoying…"**_

"_so what, is he making you watch it with him?"_

"_**Well... no, but when you have nothing else to do, it's kind of your only option."**_

"_Okay then, just meet Brianna at Ken's house, you know where he lives right?"_

"_**Sorta."**_

"_It's like 2 houses down from Brianna's old house, don't worry she'll be waiting outside for Tenma to come so you'll be able to tell, and if she says anything just tell her I invited you guys too."_

"_**Hmm.. sounds like a plan, do you know what time we have to be there?"**_

"_Yeah like around 4 or 5-ish.."_

"_**Okie dokie!" **_

I hung up the phone a few moments later.

"Phew! That was easy…" I put my phone down.

I walked over to my desk and finished up my drawing of my thumbnail.

"Haha, a turkey suit makes me look silly!" I laughed, my cheeks turned light pink.

_((reference to an older, short fanfic I have yet to post… maybe when Kait gets back she can explain it for me so u get the reference. ~Emily)) _

_((I have no idea wut ur talking about :D ~kate)) _

_((Yesh you do Kait… it's the fan fic where like, ahhh you have to explain it, good luck ~Emily)) _

_((oh.. OH.. THAT FAN FICTION… oh….. ok. prepare yourselves. so in the fanfic, me and emi go to this weird place to help out Astro (cuz Elefun told us to...) and Astro went all cray and stuff. And he was telling us how he all cuckoo in the noggin. like seriously loco coco beans. wtf am i even saying… anyway…. turns out he also has a crush on himself (awkward.. I know...) so yeah so here Astro is BLUSHING cuz he has a crush on himself cuz he's a narcissistic little buttface. ~kate)) _

_((OMG THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL KAIT! ~Emily)) _

_((Thank you. Thank you. *bows* I should do a recording of me saying that and start selling CDs of it to people. I'LL BE RICH! ~kate)) _

_((Also, to our readers, sorry you guys have to deal with our little shenanigans xD. carry on reading now.. ~kate)) _

"Hmmm… maybe i'll just watch a little TV before I get ready." I closed my laptop and walked out of my room.

"So? Did you ask anyone? It's past 12." Tenma looked up at me as I sat on the couch.

"Yeah, I asked um…. Brianna, Atom and he said he's gonna see if Uran will go, but i'm sure she'll say yes…"

"Hmmm. That reminds me…. How has Zoran been?"

"Uhh…." I innocently looked around.

"Well?" He smirked.

"She uh… it- isn't um… _here_ right now…"

"What do you mean?" Tenma's smirk went away and turned into a serious look.

I sighed.

"She asked to be shut down instead of Atom a while back when the experiment with me was over, according to, I think it was Atom, her last words were 'I'm sorry.' "

_Kaitlyn: OMG ITS SO SADDD. AND YOU HAD TO TELL HIM. AND. AND ITS SO SADDDDD *clings onto emi and overdramatically cries into her shoulder*_

_Astro: Well he asked me, what was I suppose to tell him, she went to unicorn land, got lost and never returned? _

_Kaitlyn: T-THAT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ANY LESS SAD. *sobs*_

_Astro: Humans has issues….. _

_Kaitlyn: EMIIIIIIII WHY IS IT SO SAD?!_

_Emily: Kate.. Kate.. get off of me…. and please continue to record?! _

_Kaitlyn: *sobs louder*_

_Emily: Pfft fine, I'll record then, go on Astro, continue… _

_Astro: Finally! _

"Oh….." Tenma looked down.

"Elefun said he did everything in his power to convince her not to do it, but he said she was too strong for him…"

"I… I see….."

"I-i'm really sorry, Dad… It wasn't your fault…."

"Yes. I know…."

I forced a smile.

"But, she did it out of an act of love, she's more brave than the rest of us could be, because none of us have even dared to think of doing such a thing…"

"I mean, _I_ think of it from time-to-time, but i've never really taken it seriously…"

"So she's just… _gone_ now?"

"Well I don't know what they did to her…" I shrugged.

"I just feel kinda bad… I created her then just gave her away like an old toy you've outgrown."

I sighed.

"Well, it's all in the past now…."

"You're right… there's nothing we can do about it now, so, we should just forget about it and move along…:

"Yes. Yes we should."

I forced another smile.

I leaned my head on Tenma's shoulder.

"But It's nice to see you care."

He looked over at me and smiled.

"You're a good kid."

"Y-you really mean that?"

"Yeah."

I smiled.

He moved his arm over and ruffled my hair.

"I-I love you…"

"Love you too."

I snuggled a little closer and closed my eyes.

He put his arm around me.

A few hours later, I walked out the door with Tenma.

"They should already be there, I told Atom just to meet Brianna at Ken's house, save you the stress and trouble…"

"Oh. Thank you, Astro." He said as we got in the car.

"Oh don't mention it, i'm just using my smartness to my advantage."

Soon we arrived at Ken's house and we both got out.

"If anyone ask, we're all just color coordinated, okay?" Brianna whispered to Atom and Uran.

The two of them nodded.

"Wow, all three of you wearing red?" I chuckled.

"Oh we're just uh… color coordinated…" Brianna replied.

"Cool, too bad i'm not wearing any red…"

"I call shotgun!" Uran ran past us and to the car.

"Huh?" I looked confused.

"Hey no fair!" Brianna put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah! And she's younger!" Atom added on.

"Uran can sit in the front if she wants." Tenma looked at them.

"Plus, she called it." He shrugged with a smirk.

"I don't even know what the hell is going on, but i'm fine with sitting in the back…" I shrugged and walked to the car.

"I call the seat next to pookie face!" Brianna chased after me.

Atom shrugged and casually walked to the car as well.

We all got in and drove back to the house.

"Uh… i'll be back in a second.." I said as soon as I walked in the house and into the hallway.

"Pfft… he's such a retard.." Brianna rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"Oh… You're back!" Cindy walked out of the kitchen, wearing oven mitts.

"Yes and- wait… something smells burnt… " Tenma looked at her with a confused look on his face

"Um.. yeah.. about that…. We may need to make a new batch of stuffing…."

"Oh… You didn't..."

Cindy smiled at him nervously.

He rushed into the kitchen.

"This is why you shouldn't leave me alone with the food, you know I can't cook very well." She followed close behind him.

"Maybe this is why the professor never cooks on Thanksgiving?" Uran said to Atom.

Atom couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"Ugh, lemme go see what Astro is doing…" Brianna walked away and walked into the hallway.

Brianna knocked on the door.

I opened it.

"Yes?" I looked at her.

"Don't tell me your doing what i _think_ you're doing?"

"What?" I shrugged.

Brianna facepalmed.

"You're such a dork!" Brianna said as she shook her head and chuckled. ((We know where Astro got dat from! ~Emily))

"Just put your shirt back on and come back out of your room…" Brianna walked away.

I closed the door.

Brianna walked back to where Atom and Uran were standing.

"So um…." Tenma looked at them after walking out of the kitchen.

"Huh?" Atom looked at Tenma.

"Oh. Nothing. Just make yourselves at home." He walked into another room.

I came out of my room and walked over to where Brianna was.

"Sleeping With Sirens anyone?" I asked, pointing to my shirt.

"What?" Brianna tilted her head.

"Pffft, you guys haven't lived yet..."

"Pft, just because we haven't listened to bands doesn't mean we haven't lived yet..."

"Yes it does..."

"Ehhh... I'm going to the living room..." I walked away, Brianna followed.

"Ugh, I'm tired of watching TV, especially after seeing those shows the professor put on." Uran folded her arms.

"Oh come on Uran, why don't we go see what Astro's watching, I'm sure its not as bad as what the professor is watching." Atom replied.

"Ehh okay..." Uran shrugged and walked away to the living room.

"Ooh! I got it!" Brianna snatched the remote from me.

"Hey! I was using that..." I replied.

Brianna stuck her tongue out at me and changed the channel.

"Pfft." I folded my arms.

"Astro?" I heard Cindy call my name from the kitchen.

"Huh?" I turned around.

"Do you mind giving me a hand in here?"

"Ehhhh..." I moved over and leaned my head on top of Brianna's.

"Astro…."

I closed my eyes.

"I'll go help." Atom walked over to the kitchen.

"Yeah, let Atom help... I'm having a moment here.." I mumbled.

Brianna blushed.

"Pft. You guys are gross." Uran rolled her eyes.

"You're gross because you know what gross means..."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Doesn't have to."

She stuck her tongue out.

"Where's the bathroom? I need to use the potty."

"Ummm... The hallway somewhere..."

"Whatever. I'll go find it myself…." Uran walked away.

"I told you it's in the hallway- whatever..." I rolled my eyes.

"Can you get off me now?" Brianna asked.

"Eh, sure." I got up and laid down on one side of the couch.

"Really? You're gonna take a nap now?" Brianna raised her eyebrows.

"No, I'm going to relax, relaxing is not the same as 'taking a nap' " I replied.

Brianna crept up closer to me.

"What?" I looked up at her.

Brianna smiled.

I blushed.

Brianna lied down close to me.

I put an arm around her.

Uran came back a few minutes later.

"Ugghhhh." She saw us and rolled her eyes again.

"I'm going in the kitchen with Atom…."

"Hmm?" Brianna opened her eyes.

"Nothing..." I ruffled Brianna's hair.

"Oh...okay" Brianna yawned and got comfortable again.

I moved my arm over and rubbed her cheek with the back of my hand.

"Come on you two, wake up. You're supposed to nap _after_ you eat." Someone shook my shoulder.

"Huh?" I looked up at them.

"It's time to eat." Tenma looked back at me.

"Oh okay."

I shook Brianna's shoulder.

"Lemme guess, it's time to eat?" Brianna looked at me.

"Yeah." I chuckled.

"Ugh, give me a sec, I'm like an old fart when I'm trying to get off of a couch."

I chuckled.

The both of us got off the couch and walked out of the living room with Tenma.

We walked into the dining room. We barely use it unless it's a special occasion.

There was a ton of food on the table and everyone else was sitting down waiting for us to sit as well.

"Mmm... So much yummy food!" Brianna licked her lips.

"Dang it _is _a lot of food!" I said, looking at the table.

We sat down.

"Well, dig in!" Tenma sat down, too.

I looked down at my plate and did nothing.

"Well aren't you gonna get something?" Brianna looked at me.

I shrugged.

"Here, hand me your plate."

I handed my plate to Brianna.

Brianna handed it back to me.

"I got you a little of everything since I'm not sure which one you like the best..."

"Uh... Thank you?" I smiled nervously at Brianna as I took the plate from her.

Brianna chuckled.

"Hey... This isn't actually that bad..." I thought out loud.

"But I wonder if fried chicken tastes better?"

Later on after we finished eating and cleaned up the plates, most of us just sat down at the table and talked for a little bit.

"So uh... How have you guys been?" I asked, looking at Uran and Atom.

"Good." Uran grinned.

"Eh, same." Atom shrugged.

"Oh really?" I looked at Atom.

Atom nodded.

"Funny, I assumed with me gone he'd just find another person to make his slave..." I folded my arms.

Atom cleared his throat and looked away.

"You seem suspicious..." I replied.

"What? Me? Pfft, no..." Atom quickly protested.

I looked over at Tenma who was sitting on the other end of the table.

He looked back at me.

"Well?" I mouthed.

He shrugged.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, looking back at Atom.

"He's put you to work, hasn't he?"

Atom slowly nodded.

"Ha! I knew the little pest would do it!"

Brianna elbowed me.

"I mean, that's terrible..."

Atom sighed.

"Well, what can you do, not like you have any other place to go, besides the professor would never take you seriously, you don't have the rebel in you, at least not yet."

"And unfortunately I don't give lessons on how to be one, so you're screwed."

"At least he isn't as hard on Atom as he was on you." Uran butted in.

"What? That's unfair!"

"Yeah. Unfair for Atom. 'Cause he gets treated like trash while you get treated like a king." She folded her arms.

"Well not my fault Atom doesn't have a loving father that lives a few blocks away..."

"Well technically Atom is your brother so Tenma is Atom's father too in a way..." Brianna added.

"Haha, how's that for ya?" I looked at Tenma.

He shrugged again.

"Ahh don't mind him he's just being a party pooper..."

"That's actually kind of strange..." Atom said.

"Wha? How is that _strange_?"

"I dunno… I guess it's cool?" Atom shrugged.

"Pfft don't mind him, he just hasn't lived yet..."

"Which is surprising since he's my twin, maybe science can't really duplicate things..."

A few minutes later Cindy came back with pumpkin pie in her hands.

"Dessert!" She smiled.

"Ugh! I'm stuffed!"

"No pie for you then." She teased,

"Good. I need to go on a diet anyways... I'm eating too many crackers."

"You don't eat that much, hun."

"Yes I do, I eat it more than I take showers... Now that says something..."

She chuckled and walked back into the kitchen to get something else.

"So uh... What else is there to talk about?" I asked.

Atom opened his mouth.

"_Besides_ you and Stephen."

Atom closed his mouth.

"Nothing? Man you guys are such party poopers!" I folded my arms.

Elefun unlocked the door to his house and walked inside.

"Atom! Uran! I brought Dinner!" Elefun called out.

Nothing happened.

Elefun closed the door and continued to walk in confusion.

"Atom? Uran?" Elefun called out again.

Still no one responded.

"Hmph, maybe they're playing in the backyard." Elefun said, walking outside.

"Atom! Uran! I bought KCF for dinner!" Elefun yelled.

Again still, no one responded.

Atom looked down at his phone after it vibrated.

"Hmmm? Oh….. Uh oh…." His voice sounded a little scared as he read the text.

"What is it?" I looked at him.

"Oh no. He's really angry… I'm gonna be in so much trouble when we get home…."

"Oh I see... Welcome to the club my friend, and just to let you know, it _doesn't_ get better..."

"What do I tell him?"

"Nothing. Simple as that."

"But… he's asking where I am…. and he's probably so worried because we left without saying anything."

"Then creep him out so he'll stop bothering you... Tell him you went outside to get the mail and suddenly ended up at a strip club, works every time I say it..."

"I can't lie to him like that..."

"Of course you can, at least I hope- oh who I'm kidding, you're my twin! You can do it!"

"N-no. I have to tell him the truth..."

"Fine, be a goodie two shoes like that, but when he kicks your um.. Tushie, don't come crying to me."

Atom sighed and typed something into his phone.

"Well Atom the only thing I can say to you is bless your soul and rest In peace... You're gonna need it, trust me..."

"Oh. And you might wanna type up your will while you're at it."

"Does that mean I'm toast too?" Uran looked at Atom.

"I'm not sure…."

"Probably, but maybe not as bad since it was Atom's idea."

"Hey party pooper citizen, we need wise elderly advice over here!" I waved my hand.

Tenma sighed.

"He's not going to kill you, but he will be mad."

"I asked for advice, not to state the obvious?!"

"I would say that you should've told him you were coming, but knowing him, he'd keep you locked up inside the house. 'You're not going to that idiot Tenma's house,' he'd say."

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Dang dad, you do a good Elefun impersonation!"

He chuckled.

"I'd also say you should take your punishment as is, but I'd never accept his way of disciplining."

"He was nice until I came back from the Underground City, I wonder if that has to do with anything?"

"You leaving might have been his breaking point and now he's _completely_ bonkers, not saying he wasn't bonkers before."

"Pfft, he's just a hypocrite..."

"He says things and then he twists it to use it against people, _then_ he goes around covering it up with a lousy excuse!"

"Some people never grow up."

"Ill say..." I folded my arms.

"Well then what's Atom gonna do? I'm hoping you have enough money for his funeral..."

I guess I can just walk you guys home, just to be safe…" I said, getting up from my chair.

"O-oh. Ok." Atom looked up.

"Well? Uran, we better get going…" I walked out of the dining room and headed for the door.

Atom and Uran followed behind me.

The three of us walked inside Elefun's house. Elefun was standing with his arms folded, a serious look on his face and he stood straight and tall. ((well not really tall cuz he kinda short, ya know. lol ~kate))

"Don't worry, i'll handle this." I said to the two of them.

Uran walked upstairs to her room, Atom stood close behind me, he seemed a little scared.

"Well?" Elefun began.

"It's my fault professor, I tempted Atom to do something he wasn't suppose to do in the first place…" I sighed.

"I wasn't talking to you." Elefun looked over my shoulder and looked at Atom.

"You lay a finger on him and you're toast!" I threatened.

Atom began to feel nervous and shake.

"It's ok." I looked back at him.

Atom sighed.

"I-i'm sorry…" Atom muttered.

"No no Atom, this isn't your fault, I told you already, I got this!"

"Astro!"

"No! It's not right for you to do what you're doing, I heard the whole story and it's not pretty at all! You can't do this to Atom!" I yelled.

"And since when were _you_ his father?!"

"I may not be his father, but I know i'd do a better job than your damn helpless soul!"

"How dare you say that to me?!"

"Oh really, what are you gonna do about it, cry to your imaginary mom about it?"

Elefun gasped and took a step back.

I slowly made my way closer to him as if I was trying to test his limit (which I was).

"Astro. Don't take this too far." Atom whispered.

"Oh please, he's helpless, the devil couldn't spare his soul even if he tried!" Before I knew it I was getting a little too close to him.

But then I realized the danger of what could happen if I carried out my plan.

I slowly turned around and prepared to leave, but Elefun tried to reach out for me and accidentally pulled on my ear and I collapsed.

Atom took a step back slowly in fear.

"Atom… g-go up to your room…."

Atom quickly raced off to his room.

"Gosh, shouldn't Astro be back already?" Brianna said, looking at her phone.

"Hmmm. It's been an hour and a half. I would think so." Tenma looked at her after glancing at his watch.

"Do you think something could've happen to him?"

"Maybe..." Tenma seemed even more cautious.

"M-maybe you should go check and see, and i'll go with you!" Brianna sounded determined.

"I'll go, but you stay here. It may be dangerous."

"Pfffttt.. this is Brianna you're talking to, nothing is dangerous to me, especially when it comes to saving my boyfriend!"

"Fine..." Tenma sighed.

"Yes!" Brianna cheered.

Brianna got up from her chair and walked out of the dining room.

Tenma said goodbye to Cindy and followed her out.

Soon they arrived at Elefun's.

Tenma knocked on the door.

Elefun came out and opened it.

"Oh, it's you two." Elefun looked at the both of them.

"I know you like to be alone for Thanksgiving, but I thought I'd come by and wish you a happy holiday." Tenma smirked.

"Oh really? Care to watch some soap operas with me?" Elefun sarcastically offered.

"Oh yes. Sounds… delightful…."

Elefun moved out of the way to let Tenma and Brianna inside.

"Ok. Now why are you really here?" He asked Tenma.

"Do you know where Astro is?"

"Pftt… Astro's not here, he left a while ago, must've gotten lost or kidnapped or something."

"Hmmmm. Brianna, come here for a moment." Tenma walked into the kitchen.

Brianna followed him.

"I want you to distract Elefun while I go ask Atom what _really _happened to Astro." He leaned down and whispered to her.

"Oh.. okay, but what do I say… uh never mind! I have an idea!" Brianna whispered back.

"Oh and Atom's room is down that hallway over there."

"Ok. Now just give me a signal when you're sure he's not looking and I'll sneak over to Atom's room."

"Sure can do!"

Brianna walked out of the kitchen.

"Sayyyy uh, professor? You said we could watch soap operas with you, right?"

"Uh yes, I think I can recall me saying that."

"Well how about the two of us sit and watch a few episodes?"

"Oh! Uh, sure. Come, come, have a seat… you'll love them so much." Elefun said as he walked over to the TV.

Tenma peeked his head out the kitchen and looked at Brianna.

"Oh uh, I think I see something in the corner there, you see it?" Brianna pointed to the corner of the table that held the TV.

"Oh! Where, I don't see anything?" Elefun said as he examined the corner.

Brianna quickly turned around and nodded at Tenma.

He nodded back and quickly made his way into the hallway.

He knocked on Atom's door.

Atom didn't respond, he just sat on his bed, still with slight terror.

"Atom... It's Tenma." He whispered, looking over and making sure no one else was in the hallway with him.

Atom got off his bed and slowly made it to his bedroom door. He opened it.

Tenma gave him a nervous smile.

"What is it?" Atom whispered.

"Do you know where Astro is?" Tenma whispered back.

"Uh…." Atom could feel the fear consume him more as he relived the moment in his mind.

"Come inside and i'll tell you everything."

Tenma quickly made it into his room.

"It was terrible.." Atom began.

"Astro and Elefun just got into a nasty argument and then when Astro was getting ready to leave the professor tried to grab him but h-he…" Atom put a hand over his face.

"Just tell me where he is, Atom..." Tenma put his hands on Atom's shoulders.

"He pulled on Astro's ear and shut him down, then he told me to go to my room, so I don't know where he is, but I assume he took Astro and threw him in his old room."

"Thank you." Tenma smiled at Atom then ran quietly out of his room.

Atom smiled.

Tenma made it up the stairs and opened my old bedroom door.

He saw me lying on the ground, a part of me was a little bruised from the impact of falling on the hard ground. There was also a very small puddle of drool near me.

"Astro!" He kneeled next to me. 

He looked over me, making sure I was fine.

"Ok… You're ok… Might not be a good time to turn you back on though."

"_Ugh, I hope Tenma is hurrying up, these shows are so annoying!"_ Brianna thought as she folded her arms and looked at the TV.

She heard footsteps coming down the stairs and looked over.

"_Oh good, he must've figured it out!" _

Tenma came walking in to the living room with me in his arms and a very angry look on his face.

Elefun turned around.

"Uran? Is that you?" Elefun asked, squinting his eyes.

"Elefun…. You bastard…."

"Tenma! What do you think you're doing?! You can't just come into my house and make yourself at home?!"

"You think you can do something like this and just get away with it?!"

"Do _what_ exactly?"

"Shutdown Astro, not tell me about it, and just throw him in his room."

"It was an accident okay, an accident _I _was planning to fix!"

"And _this_ is how you handle it?!"

"I was gonna keep him there till I had time to fix- why would you give so much of a damn in the first place?!"

"Because he's only a kid… he's my son , and I won't have him being treated like this!"

"Then leave!"

"How can I leave when you are a danger to the other two children living in this house?"

"I'll have you know I am _not_ a danger to the other children in this house and I will _not_ let some six feet skunk bag tell me how to treat their children!"

"Do you hear yourself?! You sound like such an idiot."

"Guys…" Brianna muttered.

They both looked at her.

Brianna pretended like she said nothing and played around with her hair.

"One more slip, Elefun, and I'm taking this to court." Tenma began to walk towards the door.

Brianna didn't realize Tenma was leaving and still sat on the couch.

"Come along, Brianna." Tenma called.

"Wha? Oh! I'm coming…" Brianna got up from the couch and walked to the door.

"Please don't make me watch soap operas with him ever again, _ever_." Brianna said to Tenma.

"I won't." He said, placing me in the back seat.

"Phew!"

"Would you like me to just drop you off at home?"

"Ehh I guess, it's getting a little late and i'm sure Ken's parents should be back from dinner by now."

Tenma pulled up into Ken's driveway and Brianna got out of the car.

"Thanks for dinner and tell Astro I said goodbye because if you don't… I know where you live!" Brianna yelled as she waved and walked inside her house.

"Bye!" Tenma chuckled, waving back.

Tenma pulled out of Ken's driveway and drove home.

He walked in the door and to my room, placing me in my bed. 

I slowly opened my eyes after he turned my systems back on.

I looked around and noticed I wasn't at Elefun's anymore.

"Mmmm.. w-where- what happen?" I was extremely confused.

"You're at home. I'll tell you what happened tomorrow. Now get some sleep, you had quite a day."

"Ahhh.. uh.. okay? G-goodnight!" I closed my eyes again and pulled the covers closer to me.

"Goodnight." Tenma rubbed my forehead and left the room.

The next morning I made my way to the table I always went to in the morning and sat down.

"How are you feeling?" Tenma looked up at me.

"I little tired, but i'm okay."

"So… about last night..."

"What about it?"

"Do you still remember what happened before you got shut down?"

"Sort of, but it's kinda blurry."

Tenma explained to me what happened and his little argument with Elefun.

"Oooh, I see... " I chuckled.

"Oh. And Brianna wanted me to tell you: 'Goodbye'."

"Haha, she's silly… I uh… need to call her later, but i'm too lazy to dial her number." I yawned.

"Goodmorning." Cindy said, stretching, as she walked into the kitchen.

"Happy Black Friday!" I greeted.

"Haha. Too bad we aren't actually going out to buy anything." Tenma took a sip of his coffee.

"Really, pfft, but I guess since you're adults and you don't waste your time going to Hot Topics and buying more clothes you don't need because you have enough to last you a whole year… I guess there's no reason to go…"

"Hmmm. Yeah. Pretty much."

"I have _way _too many shirts, it's not even funny." I chuckled.

"I don't even know why I go shopping anymore…"

"You know, I wonder what they call dragons with bad breath? Human breath?"

"What?"

"You know how some people tell other people they have dragon breath when their breath stinks?"

"Not really. I don't believe I recall anyone saying that."

"Nevermind then…" I shook my head.

"Well, I get the joke now..."

"Yeah, but it's too late now."

"Eh… i'm thinking of going downtown today." I yawned.

"Sounds like fun."

"I don't really know what I need there, but it won't kill me if I walk there and get some exercise…"

"Would you like some company?" Tenma smiled like a dork.

"I dunno." I shrugged.

"But i'd probably rather go alone, I need to de-clutter a lot of things in my head."

"Ok."

Later on I headed on my way out the door and on my way downtown.

As I was heading on my way, I bumped into someone.

"Ah! Sorry…." I apologized, rubbing my head.

"Oh hey, Astro!"

"Atom?" I tilted my head.

"Yeah, it's me!" Atom smiled.

"Oh! I thought you were someone else for a second there!" I chuckled.

"Aww that's okay, it happens." Atom shrugged.

"So whatcha' doing out here?" I asked.

"Just taking a stroll."

"Haha, same… my heads getting a little cluttered, again…" I rolled my eyes.

"Well uh.. I guess I better get going, unless um.. you'd like to walk with me?"

"Oh. I guess I could walk with you…. if you don't mind."

I slowed down my pace to let Atom catch up with me.

We walked in silence for a few minutes before we had to cross the street.

"Here, so you don't get lost…." I reached my hand out to Atom.

"What are you doing?….."

"What? I don't want you to get run over by a car!"

"I'm not going to get run over by a car…."

"Pfft… you never know…"

"Well, I'm not holding your hand…."

"Fine.. but if a big giant truck comes and runs you over, don't come crying to me, if you can."

Atom looked over for a second.

"Fine… if you insist…." He grabbed my hand.

The both of us crossed the street, I let go of his hand.

"You tell anyone about this, you're toast. If anything i'm being nice and very concerned about your safety." I looked at Atom.

"So uh… any place in particular you'd like to go to?"

"Hmmm. I dunno."

"I like icecream."

"Umm. You wanna get icecream?"

"I like icecream." I smiled.

Atom groaned.

"Icecream it is."

"Haha… I love annoying people…" I giggled.

Atom tried not to chuckle.

"Ugh, I hate this intersection, it's always busy and filled with motha effas that don't know how to effin drive?!" I complained.

"...Excuse my language…"

"Welp, we better hurry!" I looked at Atom and reached for his hand again.

We ran across when the crossing sign turned green.

"So what flavor are you gonna get?" Atom asked innocently as we continued walking.

"I dunno, it's been a while since I've had icecream, maybe i'll just go plain and simple and order vanilla."

"Vanilla's kinda boring, though. And I'm not in a very boring mood..." He thought outloud.

"Pftt. fine, would you like me to get cookie dough instead?"

"Hmmm. Yeah. That's not as boring."

I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

"Now what am I going to get?..."

"Well don't you always get cookies and cream?"

"Yeah… but I wanna change things up a bit today."

"Then get pistachio." I shrugged.

"Oooooo! Yeah! Yuuuummmm. Pistachio!"

"Ehh… I remember this one time I went to get icecream and I couldn't make up my mind, and I ended up leaving with vanilla which I realized _after_ I left, I didn't want it.."

Atom chuckled.

"Man… downtown is really far away, probably should've flown here…"

"Yeah… but we're almost there. I think I can see the icecream place now."

"That place is like uber expensive, but it's like the only one here, so I can tell the owners must be rich!"

"Yeah. Likely."

"Oh! Sorry." I let go of Atom's hand.

"Oh. I forgot you were still holding my hand."

I laughed nervously.

"No one saw that, right?" I looked behind me.

"I don't think so." Atom looked back with me.

"Good." I said with relief.

Soon, we made it to the icecream place.

I let Atom walk in first.

"Packed, as usual" I said after I made my way in behind Atom.

We squeezed through a few groups of people before finding what seemed to be the back of the line.

"This'll be a while…"

Later on I came home carrying my sleepy twin on my back, I passed by Tenma who was reading a book on the couch.

"Hello Astro." He said without looking up.

"Uh.. hey, hows it going?" I asked.

He glanced up at me.

"Oh. What is Atom doing here with you?"

"He feel sleep after we got icecream so I thought i'd keep him here till he wakes up."

"Oh. Ok then."

I walked into the hallway and into my room.

I gently put Atom down on my bed and I walked over to my office chair where I sat down, opened my journal and wrote a few things.

"Hmm... " I looked over at Atom.

I turned back around and continued to write in my journal.

About sometime later I heard Atom get up from the bed.

"Oh! Your awake?" I turned around.

"Y-yeah." He yawned.

"Mmmm. Where are- Oh. This is your room, isn't it?"

"Sure is." I smiled.

"It's nice." He smiled.

"Hehe… I have this idea, but i'm not sure what to do…" I thought out loud.

"What's your idea?"

"I dunno, I'd need someone to test it on."

"You can test it on me."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

"Hmm.. okay.." I grabbed the permanent marker from my desk and walked up to Atom.

I sat down next to him.

"You might wanna roll up your sleeve, I wanna get as close as possible."

"What are you going to do?"

"You'll see.."

He rolled up his sleeve.

I took off the cap of the marker and made gentle strokes on Atom's arm and wrote words with my delicate hands.

"What are you writing?"

"A quote…"

"A quote? What quote?"

"My very own quote, you'll see when I finish…"

"_Sometimes you got to look beyond the camera lense to see the whole picture."_

_**~Astro**_

"There, done." I said with a smile.

"You can see what it looks like before you take a shower, or if you look in a mirror, obviously."

"Oh! Cool! I love it."

"Eh, just me dabbling in a new form of art." I shrugged.

I sighed.

"You know, I kinda feel bad for you…"

"Why?"

"I dunno, all alone there with that crazy dude and that annoying little brat-don't tell her I said that- and just, i dunno…"

"Well, it could be worse..."

"I guess, but you're my twin, so If I can magically turn out OK, i'm sure you'll do just fine." I ruffled Atom's hair.

He grinned.

"Because let's face it, you have a better shot in the real world than the most of us."

"Nah. I have an equal chance as anyone else."

"You sure about that?" I gave Atom a sarcastic look.

"Yep."

"Well I still love you, not in _that_ way, but you get what I mean…."

"Yeah…."

"Awkward sibling hug?" He held his arms open.

"Eh, you only live once!" I held my arms out open as well and accepted Atom's hug.

"Pat. Pat." We both said with blank faces as we patted each others back twice.

Then we broke up the hug.

"Well you better get going, it's getting close to lunch time…" I said to Atom.

"Oh. Ok." He climbed off my bed.

"Unless you'd rather stay or go somewhere else?"

"Naw. I think I'll just go home…."

"Want me to walk with you, just to be on the safe side?"

"No. I'll be fine."

"Hmmm…okay, see ya!" I waved goodbye.

"Bye!" He walked out of my room.

"_What's up people!"_

"_Wait… no that doesn't work…"_

"_It's me, your semi-lovable band fan, Astro…" _

"_I have some great news for you guys!"_

"_I am going to be making a new intro for my videos!"_

"_Because just saying 'What's up people' just isn't cutting it anymore…."_

"_So…"_

"_Will it be animated? Will it have music?"_

"_I dunno…" _

"_So how about In the 60 time lapsed seconds, I think about it?" _

"_Okay…. I have reached my decision…" _

"_Sike! Believe it or not, I already __**made**__ my intro!" _

"_So how about we waste 30 seconds of our time and play that crappy intro for us!" _

"_I know it stinks… but I promise you it will get better as time goes on, so if you think it sucked don't worry, or die, or go to the hospital, or call me, sue me, file a complaint, show up to my house, or dream about hentai fantasies…" _

"_That's just basic manners people!"_

"_And because today is Friday, i'm going to Picstagram and looking through these comments and seeing that most of you people want…."_

"_Sorry I need glasses, this is hard to see..um…." I held my phone closer and closer to my face. _

"_UGh… I can't see anything on this BLANK SCREEN!"_

"_Haha, fooled you all!" _

"_Haha, doesn't know what to do."_

"_Looks at blank screen."_

"_Is frustrated." _

"_Woah! the eff was that? Sounded like a dying Walrus dude, who the eff lives here?!" _

"_I dunno maybe my dad realized he should start exercising." _

"_YEAH YOU GO DO THOSE SQUATS OR WHATEVER THE HELL YOU DO WHEN YOU EXERCISE!" _

"_So what is this video about?" _

"_I dunno, i'm too lazy to check my comments!"_

"_Actually, the truth is, I forgot to make the post I make that your suppose to comment on, and then i'm suppose to read it, chose the most popular or which on I like the best."_

"_Did I do any of that?"_

"_Nope,"_

"_So today's video is about random stuff."_

"_Yeah.. pretty much…" _

"_Man. wtf is that noise."_

"_Pfft…. maybe um…. oooh i got it!"_

"_It's a unicorn!"_

"_Because unicorns are the reason for everything people, GET WITH THE MOTHA EFFIN PROGRAM BEACH!" _

"_You know how some people hear you listening to something like All Time Low or like Black Veil Brides and they're just all like."_

"_OMG that's like devil music, why the eff do you listen to that?!" _

_I facepalmed. _

"_Really?" _

"_God damn Unicorn da hell you doing, making love with the fridge?!" _

"_I hope not because I love that fridge, and I called dibs on it, SO GET YOUR NASTY UH… WHATEVER AWAY AND OFF MY FRIDGE!"_

"_No seriously dude, WHY YOU GOTTA BE SO RUDE! CAN'T YOU SEE I WAS IN LOVE WITH THE FRIDGE FIRST!" _

"_Maybe someone's behind the door…. Trying not to laugh at how hilarious I am, so they wheezin like a frickin donkey choking on a corn cob."_

"_Oh gawd, I wonder if it's like…. the devil here to steal me or something, or ever worse…"_

"_Paparazzi!" _

"_Dun dun DUN!" _

"_Should I go check?"_

"_No. I can't…. I'm too busy building my ice castle while my brother and blondie search for me so I may thaw my kingdom!" _

"_:And then spend the rest of my day watching anime, and yuri, even though yuri, is a type of anime…" _

"_I'm just kidding, pfft… like anyone would believe I watch yuri…"_

"_I may get a few head turners, and maybe a few dirty looks, but hey!"_

"_Does it really matter?"_

"_...Why yes it does…."_

"_Shut up smart me!" _

"_Wiseass…." _

"_Ohh I got a topic for ya!"_

"_Animals….."_

"_Wait, never mind…." _

"_My voice." _

"_Why do I sound like a bear?" _((puberty ~kate))

"_Why do I laugh like a seagull?" _((also puberty ~kate))

"_Why do I look like vomit mixed with a gorilla?" _(~actually, that one's on you… ~kate))

"_Why?"_

"_Why?" _

((puberty! ~kate))

"_And please…. don't tell me it's because of puberty…." _((IT IS! I'VE BEEN TELLING YOU THIS WHOLE TIME THAT IT IS! ~kate))

"_Because I know that already….." _((thank you ~kate))

"_Pfft.. I bet my dad is listening to this and just like:"_

"_Hmm…. should I go do something? Or should I not?" _

"_Pfft.. he's such a dork!" _

"_YOU CAN COME OUT NOW! THE CAMERA LOVES YA DUDE!"_

"_Say…. no response?"_

"_Hmmm…. I better go investigate." _

"_Come with me!"_ I grabbed my camera and walked out the door.

"_Okay, I gotta turn the viewfinder around so people won't notice i'm recording.." _

"_There." _I slowly snuck near the living room.

I pointed the nose of the camera out a little from behind the wall.

Cindy was walking out of the kitchen and over to the couch.

"You know.. I've been thinking since this morning..." Tenma looked at her from the couch as he put his newspaper down.

"About what?" Cindy sat next to him.

"_Haha… this is gonna be funny!" _I whispered.

"Maybe would should go shopping before the sales end. You need some new clothes don't you?"

"Well. I gue- HEY! ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT!?" She looked at him angrily.

"No. No. No honey. I didn't mean that..." He smiled nervously, cowering in fear.

I forgot I was trying to hide and bursted out laughing.

"Huh?" He looked over at the hallway

"_Whoops."_ I covered my mouth with my hand.

"Astro!? Are you… Are you recording us?!"

"_Ahhh!" _I quickly ran away back to my room.

"_Hahaha, holy crap that was hilarious!" _

"_Oh my gawd, i'm crying now, dang…. holy motha ish!" _

"_I can just see the memes and gifs on Picstagram already!" _

"_PHEW! Man that was fun."_

"_Aww, but i'm almost out of time…." _

"_Well, i'd like to thank every person out there, add me, sub, like, comment, share, bitch slap that annoying blonde girl you keep passing by, and um…. i'll see you guys next time."_

"_BAND FAN OUT!" _

I stopped recording and walked out into the living room.

"Haha, you guys are gonna be internet famous!" I laughed.

They both stared at me with that "You're in big trouble, mister." look.

"Uh oh." I looked down.

"I'm sorry!" I blurted out.

Tenma raised his eyebrow.

"I hope you understand that it's rude to videotape people without them knowing, young man."

"I didn't do it on _purpose_, but I understand…."

"Hmm… Ok then."

I smiled nervously at him.

He nodded as a sign of his forgiveness.

I turned around and walked back to my room since I decided to go find something else to do.

Later on I heard someone knock on my door.

"I'm using Photosshop give me a second!" I yelled. lol Astro xD

They knocked again.

"I'm drawing!"

They knocked again.

"Making a thumbnail!"

They knocked a final time.

"HOLY CRAP JUST COME INSIDE!" I yelled a final time, putting my pen tablet down on my desk.

"Astro. I'm going to order a movie. What do you want to see?"

"I dunno." I shrugged as I picked up my pen tablet again and continued to draw.

"I guess I'll just go with The Avengerz then. You ok with that?"

I stopped what I was doing and turned my office chair around so I could face Tenma.

"What did you just say?" I sounded shocked.

"I said I was going to order The Avengerz."

I gasped and looked like I was gonna have one of those "fangirl" moments I see people in my school have.

"Count me in!" I nodded quickly.

"Haha. Ok. I'll tell you when we're gonna start watching it." He chuckled and closed the door.

"Yes!" I turned back around and continued drawing again.

I continued drawing until the lights in my room flickered on and off.

"Hmm?" I turned around.

I thought maybe I should unplug my laptop charger, but before I could, my laptop shut down out of no where.

"NOOOOOOOO!" I yelled.

A flash of light lit up my room for a split second. Soon it was followed by a large clash of thunder that shook the windows.

I sniffed.

There was a knock at my door again.

"Astro?"

"C-come in…"

The person slowly opened the door and walked inside.

"Are you ok in here?" Cindy asked me.

"You don't need a spare flashlight or anything do you?"

"No, b-but my b-beautiful artwork…. is all gone." My eyes became watery.

"Aw. Sweetie." She walked up to me and gently rubbed my cheek.

"I just… I spent so much time on it and I worked so hard and I haven't even used the potty yet because I was so committed to it, and now it's just…. gone."`

"So much effort….." I sniffed. look below and then check hangouts xD

"It's ok. I'm sure you can draw it again and make it just as good." She hugged me.

I had a blank look on my face but slowly put on a smile and hugged her back.

"Well I guess I could waste another four hours without potty breaks and do it again."

I opened my laptop.

It turned on again and displayed my unfinished artwork.

"Oh…. hey look it's back!" I smiled.

"Well look at that." Cindy giggled.

"Haha… I always look so silly…." I tried to cover my face so no one would notice i'm blushing. ((Lol same reference guys xD ~Emily))

She giggled again and ruffled my hair.

I put my head down for a moment and giggled back.

Suddenly the power came back on.

"Oh. Looks like we'll still get to watch the movie tonight." Cindy looked around the room now that the lights were on and you could see everything.

"Yay!" I smiled.

"Oh! I just remembered I have to do something… AND FAST!" I ran out of the room and to the bathroom.

Cindy chuckled as she walked out of my room.

About 30 minutes later (and after lots of saving), I walked out of my room and into the living room.

I sat down on the couch next to Cindy.

Tenma walked out of the kitchen with a large bowl of popcorn in his arm.

"Ooh popcorn! Haven't had that in a while!"

He plopped down next to me.

"I think I made it perfect this time." He said looking down at the popcorn with wide eyes.

I chuckled.

He handed the bowl to me after taking a few pieces.

I took a few pieces and set the bowl down.

Tenma picked up the remote and started the movie

I leaned back and put my hands on my stomach.

I was getting a little tired during the middle of the movie, I did my best and tried to hold back my yawns.

I moved more back and leaned my head on the couch.

"Ahh... T-this is my... Favorite part..." I yawned and closed my eyes.

Tenma and Cindy leaned in close to me.

The three of us watched the rest of the movie, even though we all fell alseep.

(END OF CHAPTER TWO!)

((AUTHORS AND CO-AUTHORS NOTE: heyy readers we really hoped you enjoyed this chapter (I know we did xD) but before you read the next chapter we ask a favor of you. We would greatly appreciate it if you would write reviews telling us how we did and maybe even giving us some suggestions for the next few chapters and other fan if ya don't we might not post the next chapters, so we'd like you to review and tell your friends about this fan fic because the more the merrier and we love it when everyone comes and jumps in on the action! And now we will shut up so you can read the next chapter if it's even posted, and if it's not, then just review and um... Read my other fan fics posted on this same account! And check out Kate's account (Kaitlyn Draws Manga) too. She might not have anything there right now, but she will have some fan fictions posted soon. ~Emily and Kate))


	3. Vlogmas

Chapter Three: Vlogmas

Tuesday afternoon I was setting up my camera in the living room, ever since Winter Break came I decided i'd do a little "Vlogmas" for fun, and I came up with a great idea on what to do for a video today.

"I hope we're almost ready, I need this video in before Dinner…" I said, fixing my camera lense.

"Well?" I looked up at Tenma who was making his way to the living room.

"Hmmm?" He looked over at me.

"Well, are you gonna sit on the couch, I need to see how it looks so I can see if I need to adjust the camera."

"Oh. Sure." He sat on the couch and made himself comfortable.

"Hmm… maybe we need to move it back a little." I moved my camera back.

"Haha, this is definitely gonna be the most awkward video i've ever made!" I chuckled.

Tenma smiled.

"Oh! I should go get the hat." I walked away.

I came back a few minutes later.

"Finally, I have received the hat filled with ripped sheets of notebook paper containing the questions people have thus asked!" My voice sounded dramatic like I hear in the movies when people announce stuff.

"Where's Cindy, can't start without her?" I asked, sitting down on the couch.

"She's in the bathroom. She'll be out in a minute."

"Pfft I guess i'll just wait and play around with the paper" I reached my hand into the hat and played around with the paper.

We waited a few minutes again.

Cindy finally made her way into the living room.

"Hey! You made it, congrats!" I greeted.

She giggled and sat down next to Tenma.

"Eh, hold this." I held the hat out in front of me.

She took it.

I got up from the couch and walked over to my camera, making final adjustments before I hit "RECORD" and sat down on the couch.

"Now you see, that over there is the viewfinder, it shows me, or us, what's recording, it helps so I know if the camera is focusing, if i'm doing something right, ETC."

"And that obviously is the camera lense, it records the stuff being displayed on the viewfinder, kapeesh?"

They nodded.

"Hmmm…. this is awkward."

"Everything is awkward for you, isn't it?" Tenma looked at me with a smirk.

"Yeah sorta, I get embarrassed easily…."

"Oh! Did I already hit record!"

"Yeah. You did."

"Pfft."

"How do I even start?"

I took a moment to think.

"Ok! I think i got it, but you better not laugh!"

Tenma chuckled.

"Ok. I'll try."

I cleared my throat.

"Omg, what up people of the farternet!"

"Wait? is that even a word?!"

Tenma broke out laughing.

"Sorry. Sorry." He said trying to catch his breath while he laughed hysterically.

Cindy tried her best not to laugh and it looked like she about to blow.

"Okay can we like, try this again?"

They both quickly calmed themselves down and Tenma nodded.

I got up and hit the "RECORD" button twice then sat down.

"What up people of the internet!"

"Today is uh… I forgot what today is, you know what today is?" I looked at Tenma.

"I believe it is a… Tuesday."

"Tuesday…. that means it's uh…. let's see hmmmm…. it's the uh…. fifth day of Vlogmas! Yes…. Vlogmas."

"And for today's video i'm going to use this magical hat and turn my dad into a fire breathing dragon!"

"Wait. What?" He looked at me.

"Haha, just kidding, we're gonna be answering question people have chosen to ask us."

"Aw. Being a dragon actually sounded kinda cool." Tenma pouted.

"Fine then, we'll do it as a bonus scene."

"Okay, so now we shall begin as I reach into the hat of questions and pulled out a ripped piece of notebook paper…. and….."

"Okay, let's see who this is for."

"Oh! it's for me!"

"Was Astr-"

"Oh wait, never mind, this if for you _about_ me haha….this is a funny one!"

"How was I as a little kid?" I looked at Tenma.

He chuckled.

"You were quite the little troublemaker. A very sweet little boy but you had a knack for making a mess."

"Haha, and I still do make messes and cause trouble!" I chuckled.

"You got that right."

I crumbled up the paper and threw it away.

"NEXT QUESTION!" i reached into the hat and pulled out another paper.

"Okay now _this_ one is for me."

"Song that is stuck in my head….."

"Hmmm…. i'd have to say Centuries by Fall Out Boy."

"Like, really, they haven't heard it yet because they don't listen to the same music I do, if they even listen to music!"

"But I bet if I showed it to them it's be like non-stop."

"Waking up."

"REMEMBER ME FOR CENTURIES!"

"Taking a shower."

"REMEMBER ME FOR CENTURIES!"

"At work."

"REMEMBER ME FOR CENTURIES!"

"Eating Dinner."

"MMMM…..EMEMBER ME FOR CENTURIES!"

"I'm like not even kidding, don't listen to that song, it poisons your brain and you'll never forget it, trust me…." I looked at Tenma and Cindy.

"I actually like that song." Cindy smiled.

"Wut?" Tenma looked back and forth at me and her with a completely confused look on his face.

"Eh, he does not listen to alternative rock music, we shall thus shun him!"

"But I guess it makes sense because I asked him a few days ago who the dudes on my shirt were and he looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language, I literally walked away from that son of gun."

"Like? Do you live under a rock or something?!"

"What?! No I don't."

"You _do_ realize I mean that figuratively, right?"

"Yes I do."

"Good."

I reached into the hat again.

"Ohh, this is for you, Cindy."

"Is it hard to get into the Biology field?" I looked at Cindy.

"Hmmm. It takes years of schooling. But getting into it isn't too hard since there aren't many biologists out there at the moment." She answered.

"And there you have it, person that asked this, and I could use that too for when i'm an adult or like a old fart with a nasty accent!"

"Hmmm… this is for um…. _all_ of us?" I said after pulling the next question out.

"Okay, Favorite movie anyone? Anyone have a favorite movie?"

"No? Haha same, I don't watch a lot of movies so I don't really have a fave." I shrugged.

:

"NEXT QUESTION!"

"Oh, haha! This one is funny, it's for you." I looked at Tenma.

"What do you do during your free time, while i'm off at school and Cindy leaves for work and you're all alone here, what do you do?"

"Oh. Well. I usually watch TV or read or… eat... or... um… take a nap…."

"Hmmmm…. sounds like stuff i'd do, good choice!"

"Hmmmm okay, let's see here, oh! Is it me or am I seeing a pattern here?"

"First it's you, then me, then um… never mind."

"Favorite soda."

"Root beer."

"NEXT QUESTION!"

"Me again, yippe!"

"Oh my gosh, you must think i'm on drugs man…"

"But I promise you, I only had a bottle of root beer, so I am clean…"

"Ehhh, should I answer this or break out into song?"

"Just answer it."

"Paper or plastic?"

I blinked.

"Remind me what world I live in."

"Like…. this isn't even a question?! What the eff is this?!"

"Pfttt…."

"Plastic…."

"Well uh, I uh, hope you guys…. enjoyed this um, _odd_ video, don't forget to like, and sub and all that crap and add me and that stuff too and i'll um….I dunno, anything else you'd like me to add?"

"Well I guess i'll see you tomorrow for the sixth day of Vlogmas?"

I waved.

I slowly got up from the couch and stopped recording.

"Let's not do that again, _ever_." I said before blushing.

"Why not? That wasn't too bad." Tenma looked at Cindy than me.

I facepalmed.

"Whatever you say…."

"If you need me i'll be video editing and drowning myself in my stupidity, see you in a thousand years…" I carried my camera and dragged my tripod behind me.

Taking my stuff with me, I went inside my room and closed my door.

I couldn't help but laugh so hard.

A few days later I walked out of room, stashing my money in my pocket and my list in another.

"Morning." I casually said on my way to the table for breakfast.

"Good morning." Tenma looked up at me from his newspaper as he took a spoonful of cereal from the bowl in front of him, putting it in his mouth.

"Hmmm, nice weather isn't it, quite perfect to go _shopping_, right?"

"Mmmhmm."

"interesting... Hmmm what is there to go shopping for?"

"Books... CD's... Candy... Books... Sweaters... T-Shirts..." I rambled on.

"Jewelry is something too. You know women are always expecting something like that from their special ones." He chuckled.

"Haha, but that stuff is expensive."

"Tell me about it."

I chuckled.

"Speaking of shopping, you guys getting any ideas for Christmas?"

"Hmmm. Sorta."

"Kool, not really much of a 'holiday' kind of person... But Ya know... meh."  
I shrugged.

"Yeah. I'm the same. But Cindy grew up with Christmas being the biggest part of the year and her family always made a big thing out of it, so I try my best to do the same for her."

I chuckled.

A little while later, I walked outside and went on my way downtown. I came back a few hours later with a few small bags in my hand.

I casually walked inside and hoped no one would notice me.

"Oh, hello, Astro." Tenma was walking out of the kitchen when he saw me.

I turned around and forced a smile as a response as I continued to quickly make my way to my room.

"Hmmm?" Tenma looked confused.

I closed the door and put the bags down on the floor.

"Phew! No ones caught me yet!" I said with relief.

I pulled a teddy bear out of one of the bags.

"I'm wrapping you first, since you're a _special_ gift, for a _special_ person..." I said as I picked It up and walked with it to my bed.

I put it down and giggled as I walked over to my closet to find the wrapping paper.

I came back and started wrapping the gift and a few other things.

There was a knock at the door.

"come in!" I said casually.

I thought for a moment.

"W-wait, what? WAIT NO DON'T COME-"

Tenma opened my door and took a step in.

"In."

He blinked.

"Oh. Did you not want me to come in?"

"Well it's too late now, you're kinda in here already." I laughed nervously and pushed a semi-wrapped gift aside.

"Ah. I was uh just coming in to ask you what you were doing."

"Ahhhh, n-nothing, nothing at all, i'm just uh… I dunno, nothin?"

Tenma raised his eyebrow at me using his magical "I know you don't mean 'nothing' even though you say it" powers.

"So uh…. yeah… how's life?"

"Really? Come on, just tell me what you're doing."

"Nothing." I shrugged.

He stared at me.

"Well?"

"How's life?"

"Okay fine, I shouldn't really be telling you this, but I guess you can keep a secret…"

He nodded.

I walked away from my bed and let out a sigh.

"I've been secretly buying everyone christmas gifts as a surprise…"

"Oh." Tenma seemed a little surprised.

"I know it's kinda stupid since i'm not much of a gift-giver anyways, but I thought it'd just be a…ya know, _nice _thing to do?"

"Yeah. That is very nice of you, Astro." He smiled.

I smiled back.

"So now i'm stuck here wrapping gifts… have I answered your question now?"

"You don't need help, do you?"

"Eh.. I dunno.." I shrugged.

"Help would be nice, but i'm not desperate for it."

"Well I'm kinda bored so…..."

"So…"

"Ahhh… I guess I'll help you." He gave me a dorky grin.

"Ummmm okay… sure!" I sounded thrilled.

We both sat on my floor.

I grabbed another bag and dragged it closer to the two of us.

"This is actually kinda….fun…." I said as I took a gift out of the bag.

"Yeah. It is." Tenma smiled.

I chuckled.

I closed my eyes for a moment and tears streamed down my face.

"What's wrong?" He looked at me concerningly.

"N-nothing… i'm just so happy right now." I smiled.

He smiled back at me and gave me a hug as I wiped the tears off my cheeks. ((*sniffles* TuT ~kate))

"You know…. I think I actually _am_ getting a little better, I think things are starting to clear up in my head now, I've actually been pretty good these past few weeks…"

"I've noticed you've been exceptionally happy."

"Maybe i'm just learning to be my old self again, maybe my rebel days are behind me."

Tenma ruffled my hair.

"YOu know I'm proud of you, right?"

I chuckled.

"Yeah."

I yawned and closed my eyes, placing my head on Tenma's shoulder.

Soon I fell asleep.

I guess Tenma could tell from my snoring, so he put me in my bed and tucked me in.

He sat back down on the floor and continued wrapping the presents

I woke up an hour later, slowly pulling my bed sheets off, I sat up and noticed all the gifts that were finally wrapped.

I couldn't help but smile.

My attention then moved over to Tenma who seemed to have fallen asleep while working since the tape was still in his hand.

I slowly got out of bed and sat down next to him.

I leaned my head again and tried to snuggle next to him even though he was still asleep.

I looked over at Tenma.

I lowered my voice to a whisper so I wouldn't wake him up.

"You know what, dad, you're the nicest person I've ever known to this day."

"It's like…. you're there when all else fails and you never have a problem with putting up with my bull crap and taking me in for who I am."

"And i'm lucky to have you, I may not always show it, but it's there….."

"I love you, for real." I smiled.

He smiled faintly even though he was still sleeping.

After a few minutes, he slowly opened his eyes.

I couldn't help but chuckle.

He looked over at me, slightly confused.

"I'm guessing you never heard my speech…"

"Hmmm?"

"Nevermind…" I shook my head.

During the next few days I was kinda busy, but it wasn't until the day before Christmas eve when I decided to take the day off and relax, starting by taking a nap in the living room after watching TV.

Tenma walked into the living room to watch TV, he saw me on the couch sleeping and taking up most of the space when he got there.

He sighed.

I tossed and turned and smiled once I got comfortable.

He walked up to me and tried lifting up my head to move me over.

I relaxed and let Tenma move me around.

He manage to get me to sit up and sat down in the seat next to me.

I leaned on Tenma, assuming I could use him as a pillow.

He looked over at me and chuckled, rolling his eyes.

I smiled.

He turned on the TV and tuned to a channel.

I slowly woke up an hour later.

"Oh! I didn't notice you were here?" I said, rubbing my eye.

"Oh so _now_ you wake up." He chuckled sarcastically.

"Yeah, I'm odd like that." I lethargically chuckled back. ((YAY! GOOGLE WANTS TO GIVE ME SYNONYMS TODAY! WHOOP! ~Emily))

A few hours later I walked out of my room dragging my tripod in one hand and holding my camera in another.

"So um… figured out what we're gonna make?" I asked as I walked out of the hallway.

"Yeah." Tenma looked back at me.

"Cool, so whatcha' go with?"

"Snickerdoodles." He smiled.

"Mmmm Yummy!"

He chuckled.

I set my camera down on the counter.

"So uh… what are we gonna do first?" I asked, turning the camera on and reaching to press the "RECORD" button.

"Well I have all of the ingredients out, which is the first step."

"Hmmm… okay." I walked over to Tenma.

"So uh… you're gonna need these um, things…" I began.

Tenma chuckled.

"Here we have sugar, and butter, and two eggs."

"Um… i think this is baking soda… and vanilla extract? Ummm cream of tertar?"

"No. it's cream of _TAR_tar."

"Oh! Hehe…. you know what I mean."

"And then theres flour and salt. And cinnamon."

"Mmmmm cinnamon!" I rubbed my hands together.

"Cinnamon is what makes these cookies so good."

"Not just cookies, but a majority of foods, at least most of the sweet foods I eat…."

"Cinnamon candies aren't too sweet. Hot, actually."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. Cinnamon is a spice and by itself its actually spicy. But when you add it to sugar, you get a very unique flavor."

"You can say that again!"

"Cinnamon is a spice and by its-"

I put my hand over Tenma's mouth.

"I didn't literally mean for you to say it again."

"Oh… yeah…."

I laughed.

He blushed.

"Lets continue…."

I nodded.

"Ok. So now what?"

"How about you go preheat the oven to 375 degrees."

"Okie dokie, I can do that!"

"Now, you mix together 3 cups of sugar and the two sticks of butter we have here. You have to 'cream' it, which means you mix them until it's smooth, but not liquidy. Also, I recommend softening the butter a bit so its easier to mix."

"You see, master baker here guys, maybe he'll do a better job at teaching stuff than I do, considering my first cookie tutorial attempt like, completely failed, _totally_."

"Those cookies were good, though."

"I know because I baked those with love, literally, don't ask me how, but I did…"

"Well, now that I mixed these two ingredients together, I'm going to add 2 teaspoons of the vanilla extract and the two eggs. Actually, do you want to do that Astro?"

"Sure!" I smiled.

"So just mix that until it's blended nicely while I get the dry ingredients ready in another bowl."

Tenma mixed together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar, explaining the process.

He took the bowl from me when i finished mixing.

"Now you dump the dry ingredients in here. While I mix this, do you mind getting the cinnamon sugar mixture ready, Astro?"

"Mmmhmm." I nodded.

"Simply take one cup of sugar and blend it together with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon."

"Uh huh…"

"Alrighty. Now that everything is all mixed, we're going to roll the dough into 1 inch balls, put them in the cinnamon mixture, then place them on the cookie sheet. Also, don't forget to grease the cookie sheets before you start rolling the cookies."

"Haha, I think I know where I messed up, then again I used pre-packaged dough…." I chuckled.

"Oh. Those were pre-packaged?"

"Yeah, 'cause that's the only way I kinda know how to make them, I think the last time I made cookies was a few years back on Valentine's Day….. don't ask."

He blinked at me then looked back at the cookie dough and began pulling out some of it from the bowl.

"You want to help?" He looked over at me as he started placing the cookies on the sheet.

I shrugged and walked up next to him.

"Welp, that was easy."

He placed the sheets in the oven.

"Now we just have to wait 10 minutes for these to cook."

I walked out of the kitchen and walked away into the hallway.

"Wait? where ya going!"

"To the little robots room." I replied opening the door to the bathroom.

I came back ten minutes later.

"Phew! that took longer than expected!" I said as I walked back into the kitchen.

"Well you came back just before I was going to take out the cookies, so good job." Tenma gave me a sarcastic smile.

"Hehe, your welcome…" I gave him a toothy grin.

The timer on the oven went off.

"Oooh, just in time!" I said with excitement.

He walked over to the oven and pulled the cookies out after he turned off the oven.

"Now like always, you wanna be _careful_ because baking stuff is hot, so unless you're a strange, I dunno, immortal being, you _might_ wanna wear something so ya don't burn yo-self!"

"So let these cool until they're lukewarm to the touch, then they should come right off of the cookie sheets. Place them on some kind of plate and then you have some very delicious Snickerdoodles for the holidays."

"Such a shame I couldn't try my own cookies, but I will say, I can't wait to try these!"

"Come back in a few minutes and I'll give you one while it's still warm."

"Okie dokie, now I can go back and finish what I started earlier…" I casually and slowly walked away.

"Astro, don't forget your camera."

"Aw crap." I turned around and went to grab my camera.

I stopped the recording and turned the camera off.

"_Now_ I can go back to finishing what I started earlier, at least after I put this down." I walked to my room to go put the camera down.

Christmas day wasn't too far behind, I got out of bed with the biggest smile and made my way to the table like I do every morning.

"Morning!" I greeted.

"Morning Astro!" Tenma and Cindy greeted back.

I smiled.

There was a knock at the door.

"Oooh, should I go get it?" I asked.

Tenma nodded.

I got up from my chair and made my way to the front door.

I opened it.

"Oh! I wasn't expecting you to answer?" Atom tilted his head.

"Oh, hey Atom, what's up?" I asked.

"Ummm… the professor wanted me to give this to you, not sure what's inside, but I guess he must've gotten you something to Christmas." Atom shrugged as he handed me the wrapped gift.

"Oh! uh… okay?" I took the gift.

"Well, see ya later!" Atom waved goodbye as he walked away.

"Bye!" I waved goodbye back.

I closed the door and walked back to my chair, still holding the gift in my hand.

"Hmm… I wonder what's inside?" I asked, shaking the gift and tapping on it.

"Well, it feels like a…_book_?" I tilted my head.

"Maybe I should open it to be safe?" I looked at Tenma.

"If you want."

I shrugged and started to undo the wrapping the neatest I could.

I gasped.

"W-wait a minute, is this…"

I opened what looked like a journal and flipped through the pages.

"No…" I whispered as a few memories replayed in my mind.

"N-no this can't be!"

"I-I thought I got _rid _of this?!"

"No…."

"No!"

I forcefully closed the journal and set it down on the table, tears streamed down my face.

"What's wrong?" Cindy walked over to me.

I shook my head and quickly stormed away.

She looked over at Tenma.

I sat down on the couch in the living room out of frustration, curled up into a ball and just sniffed as I uncontrollably sobbed. ((Awww, poor Astro… ~Emily))

Tenma picked up the book and began reading through some of the pages.

_I just don't seem to understand what went wrong?_

_I'm just trying to be myself and everyone is putting me down for it. _

_Maybe I __**am **__just not enough for them._

_Or anyone._

_Not even myself. _

_But not to worry, they say to me._

_It'll get better, they say to me. _

_You'll_

_Be _

_Fine_

_They say to me._

_But they lied….._

_Because i'm not. _

Tenma had a look of concern on his face as he turned the page.

_Isn't it fun to see us all stir the pot? _

_I'd say we're stirring up something really yummy here!_

_Got your chicken, and your peas, your onions, your carrots._

_But you forgot one thing. _

_You forgot the tears, and the blood, and the yelling, and the hair-pulling…._

_The craziness, the laughter…._

_And,_

_Me._

_Because I no longer wish to stir this pot anymore,_

_I'd rather be cooked with it. _((Woah Astro just, woah dude, woah **WOAH**! ~Emily)) ((dis gettin deep dude ~kate)) ((Irk ~Emily))

He put his hand over his forehead, trying to sort it all out in his head.

He turned a few pages and stopped at an entry.

_I've been trying my best to stop writing in here._

_Just all the memories that come to me when i'm just __**holding**__ this journal is too much for me. _

_I need to stop._

_Why can't I stop? _

_I need to stop. _

_In fact, I should be going to bed. _

_But then again I haven't slept in like four days._

_And i'm okay with doing it again. _

_There's just so many things in here that break my heart and shatter me. _

_I wish I had someone to turn to, __**sometimes**__. _

_Just…._

_I told myself everything was gonna get better, _

_But nothing seems to be improving. _

_I really need to sto-_

The rest of the page was scribbled out and torn.

Tenma looked down at the table, trying his best to hold back any tears.

He closed the book, set it aside, and got up from his seat.

I couldn't help but sigh after still trying to get myself to stop crying, but the more I thought the more worse it became.

Tenma walked over to me and sat on the couch,

I looked over at him with a sad expression as tears streamed down my face.

He put his arms around me and held me tightly.

I sighed again and closed my eyes tightly.

But slowly I relaxed and even let out a smile.

I looked up at Tenma.

He had tears in his eyes as well, but when he saw my smile, he smiled back.

I chuckled.

"Don't worry about me dad, i'm a lot better, now, at least better than what you probably read."

I lowered my voice to a whisper

"I'm not going to let anyone fall, at least not the way I did…"

He looked into my eyes then hugged me harder.

"Hehe… I-I love you." I smiled again.

"I love you, too."

I closed my eyes again and just lied down there relaxing.

Later on in the day, towards the evening I was in my room lying down on the floor, flipping through pages of my sketchbook and occasionally looking up at the clock.

I heard a knock at the door.

I slowly helped myself up and made it to my door.

I opened it.

"Yes?" I asked with a smile

"You coming?" they asked.

"Uh, yeah sure! Just ahhh… give me a sec."

They chuckled and walked away.

I closed the door and grabbed a wrapped box underneath my bed.

"Hmmm, I still don't know what to do with you…" I thought out loud.

I quickly came up with an idea and hid the box behind my back as I walked out of my room.

I put the box down in between the couch and the tree.

I sat down with a giant childish smile on my face as I tapped my shoes together.

Cindy looked out at the living room from the kitchen.

She giggled when she saw me.

I giggled and looked behind me for no reason.

"Ok, honey, he's out there." She said to Tenma, who was sitting at the table.

He got up with a smile on his face and walked into the living room with her.

I kept gazing up at the ceiling with a smile.

They sat down next to me.

"Why so happy, Astro?" Cindy asked me.

"Nothing, just living my childhood at the same time as my, whatever hood this is." I chuckled.

Tenma picked up a box from under the tree and sat back down.

"Ok. This one is for…. Astro."

"Oh!" I held my hands out to grab the gift.

I took a moment to look for the label.

_**To: Astro **_

_**From: Mom**_

I smiled and carefully undid the wrapping.

"Oh!" I held the book up.

I smiled at Cindy genuinely.

She smiled back and blushed.

We opened up a few more presents until there were 4 left.

I grabbed a wrapped box.

"Hmmmm….. for you." I passed the gift to Cindy.

She grinned and took it from me.

"I wonder who it's from?" She looked back and forth at me and Tenma as she began to pull apart the wrapping paper

I glanced over at Tenma.

He had a silly smirk on his face when Cindy looked away from him.

I couldn't help but chuckle on the inside.

Cindy opened the small box when she took off the paper.

Inside was a small note that said: "You mean the world to me. You're priceless. I love you. -Umatoro."

She put her hand on her chest as she lifted it up and saw a dazzling necklace.

"Thank you so much sweetie! I love you too." She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

He blushed.

I couldn't help but cover my hands over my face so I wouldn't look like a retard with a red face. ((HAHAHAHA xD ~Emily))

Cindy reached over and grabbed her gift and handed it to Tenma.

"Oh my gosh! The Electronic Molecule Synthesizing Quantum Calculator!" He said when he pulled a nerdy tool thing out of the box

I tilted my head in confusion.

"Such a long name for a calculator?"

"It's a very special calculator."

"Hmmmm….. cool."

"Haha. Thank you, dear." He smiled at Cindy.

She smiled back.

I reached over to two thin, wrapped boxes.

"Hmmm…" I looked at the two gifts on purpose, since I already knew who they were for.

"These are for… you guys." I handed them the gifts.

They opened then slowly flipped through drawings in a clear folder.

"It was actually kind of fun to make those, took me a while, but I used a lot of color pencils, except for one, one of those I used Copec Markers, and I also dabbled a little in water colors, even though I think it's a little too messy for me, and some of them actually for once mirror human proportions, at least better than the one's i've drawn before-"

They stared at me.

I stopped talking. ((lol ~Emily))

"They're very nice." Cindy grinned.

I blushed.

"You really think so?"

"Yup. They look so real."

"Hehe, well I tend to do more realistic drawings now than any other style, I feel like my realistic style isn't up to par yet, so i'm working on it."

After opening what seemed to be the last gift, I pushed the gift behind me aside.

"Ahhh, i'm gonna go pee, be back in a few." I said as I got up and left the living room.

I left the gift behind so it can be easily seen.

"Oh. There's one last present." Tenma looked over at it.

"But didn't we already open all the presents?" Cindy looked at him.

"I guess we missed one..." He got up and grabbed it, taking it back to his seat.

"Hmm… who's it for?"

Cindy looked over at the package to read the tag. ((Cuz everything have tags these days xD ~Emily))

_**To: The New Precious Miracle**_

_**From: Astro the Santa Claus**_

"I guess he wouldn't mind if we opened it without him since he already knows what it is." Tenma looked over at Cindy.

"I don't think he would mind." She smiled.

They slowly unwrapped the wrapping paper.

A small card fell out as Tenma pulled off a piece of tape.

The card was decorated on the front with red and green colors.

He opened it as Cindy leaned her head on his shoulder.

_Merry Christmas._

_I know you can't read this since you're not even born yet, but I thought this would be a great gift for a very special person like you. And i'm sure someday you'll stumble upon this card and laugh with a smile because you'll remember me when you read it. And i'm also sure even as you and I get older we'll never grow apart, promise. _

_And I know how much you mean to the people around you, especially your (I mean __**our**__) parents. They love you with all their heart and they would do anything for you, no matter what the cost is… _

_And they're gonna do a great job at shielding you from the pain and sadness in this world even though eventually you'll grow up and have to face it for yourself, i'm sure you'll do great, because you have the best people I could ever know that will make sure of it._

_~Astro (Your Older Brother) _

"That was so sweet." Cindy sniffled.

Tenma smiled at her as they finished unwrapping the gift.

They saw a regular stuffed animal sized brown teddy bear.

Cindy put her hand over her mouth.

She was smiling with tears in her eyes.

"I'm back!" I called out as I walked back into the living room.

They both looked up at me with big smiles.

"What?" I shrugged as I sat back down.

Cindy leaned over and gave me a hug.

"Ummm…..are you…..okay?" I asked in total confusion.

"Yes. I'm fine." She leaned back and chuckled.

"Oh, that's good." I chuckled back.

"It's just so sweet how you got this for the baby." She looked down at the teddy bear in her hands.

"Oh, now I see what this is about." I smiled.

"And, you're welcome."

Tenma got up and sat next to me.

They both gave me a big hug.

Later on I decided to just take a small stroll around the neighborhood, with my red jacket on, I walked around, singing along to silly music and looking around at what seemed like "Soon-to-be-snow" all around.

Farther away at Elefun's house Atom was planning to go outside to take pictures and visit Stephen.

"I'll be back in a few!" Atom called out.

Elefun nodded.

Atom walked out the door and headed out.

The more I walked the more I noticed that the snow was starting to fall, but it was getting a little heavy.

"Ahhh, I should probably be heading back…." I said, turning around.

I shook my head and kept walking.

But the snow was getting heavier and heavier, but still I went on and kept walking. ((This isn't too bad considering i've never even seen snow or know too much about it xD ~Emily))

I was walking so much I didn't even realize where I was going.

Carelessly walking the sidewalk, I tripped and fell face down in the snow.

"Ow." I said lying there in the cold icy flakes.

I tried getting up.

"Astro?" I heard a voice call me.

"Astro? You okay?"

Everything then became blurry.

"Aaaaaaassssssttttrrrrroooooo?"

I slowly closed my eyes and shut down.

"Uh oh, think the snow messed him up."

Atom bent down beside me, putting his hand on the back of my head.

"Ehhh, I'm sure Stephen won't mind if I show up late, at least I hope." Atom said, getting up from the ground.

He slowly picked me up and hung me over his shoulder as he walked and made his way to Tenma's.

Atom kept taking pictures along the way until he made it to Tenma's door.

He knocked on it gently.

"Hello Ato- What happened to Astro?" Tenma sorta greeted Atom.

"I think the snow messed him up, when I saw him he was face-down in the snow."

"Ah. I should be able to fix him up."

Atom chuckled and passed me on to Tenma.

They walked inside.

As Atom walked inside he took notice of all the decorations that were displayed around the house, and he couldn't help but takes pictures of some of them.

Atom followed Tenma down to the basement/lab.

After a few minutes, my eyes opened again.

I sat up and looked around for a moment.

Suddenly an idea came clear in my head for a moment.

I looked over at Tenma with tears of joy streaming down my face.

Tenma walked up to me and gave me a hug.

"I forgive you." I said.

**THE**

**END **

_Kailtyn: …..That's it?_

_Astro: Yeah, pretty much. *smiles* _

_Emily: T-that was beautiful Astro, thank you so much for telling us that story._

_Kaitlyn: I-I was just about to say that *tears up but smiles*_

_Emily: *laughs* _

_Astro: *sips bottle of water* Anything else?_

_Emily: N-no, no, I think that's it, we have enough footage. *looks and smiles at Kaitlyn* _

_Kaitlyn: But wait I wanna hear abou-_

_Emily: *smacks hand over Kaitlyn's mouth* I said that was enough._

_Kaitlyn: o-o…. o... ok… *slumps down in chair* (whispers) Emi-chan has overpowered senpai…._

_**((AUTHORS NOTE: That was supa cute like, idk how to even describe how this makes meh feel dude, it just has so many elements and ideas and things and I think in this fan fic we finally get to see Astro transition from this crazy, sad person to this totally new person, for real this time, and that…. that's amazing. ~Emily (The author) ))**_

_**((Co-Author's note: Hi ouo lol I mean like wow. Wow. That was fun haha XD. *needs more Cindy* (yeah im real low on creativity today) ~kate (The co-author) (THEY KNOW WHO I AM EMI. Seesh lol jk) ))**_


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